Symantec Points Its Finger at Kazaa Again

Unfunded adware accusations propagated by Symantec threaten to undermine the credibility of popular music subscription service Kazaa

Kazaa, now a legitimate online music subscription service that offers users access to an extensive database of licensed songs for a monthly subscription fee is still having difficulties in shedding its past reputation, shadowed by copyright related lawsuits and promotion of adware containing software.

Not long ago, Kazaa once again attracted suspicions on itself, this time from the company Symantec, which labeled the service’s desktop client application as high-risk adware. The questionable accusations weren’t well received by Brilliant Digital Entertainment, now in charge of operating Kazaa, which issued a special notice aimed at reassuring its costumers that the claims weren’t true.

According to Kazaa officials, Symantec’s security software has misidentified its desktop client as being high-risk not once, but twice over the course of a few weeks. The company’s representatives have all reasons to be upset, as Symantec’s accusations are tainting Kazaa’s public image, causing customers to turn away from the music subscription service.

The erroneous response from Symantec was apparently triggered by the files used for promoting advertisements as part of Kazaa’s music plug-in application, which the company claims to be risk-free. Kazaa supports the idea that like most anti-virus companies out there, Symantec favors an overzealous approach in its effort to unmask and pursue online piracy, approach that lures it into the trap of submitting false accusations following any suspicions of illegitimate activity, without proper factual investigation.

Kazaa brought the Spotify case into the picture, also wrongfully accused by Symantec of supporting high-risk applications. Following the incident, Symantec had to admit its mistake and later apologize on Twitter. Judging by this precedent, chances are Symantec will soon decide to also withdraw its claims against Kazaa and face the consequences of committing yet another error.