Family Tree Maker version 9 genealogy software Is spyware-Fiction!

Family Tree Maker Version 9.0 Genealogy Software Is Spyware-Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:
A warning that the best-selling genealogy software Family Tree Maker, Version 9, has tracking software included that spies on your Internet activity, then sends that information to FTM's parent company, Mattel.

The Truth:
It's a little complicated, but according to the folks at Family Tree Maker, there is no spying going on. (Family Tree Maker and Genealogy.com are now owned by Mattel.)

Before software is sold to the public, software makers distribute "beta" (test) versions to various people to use and to report any bugs. In the beta version of Family Tree Maker version 9.0, the aqueduct feature collected information about the operation of the program and if someone had a problem, the log file that was created could be emailed to the designers so they could troubleshoot the glitch. Aqueduct was to have been removed in the released version, but was accidentally included. A spokesperson for Family Tree Maker says that even though aqueduct does create a log file of activity, that information is not available to them over the Internet or any other means.

An update is available for version 9 that corrects that and another problem. CLICK HERE for the update.

A real example of the story as it has been circulated:

Hi,
This came from one of my lists. If you use FTM read and head!

FAMILY TREE MAKER, VERSION 9: A WARNING

It has come to my attention that Family Tree Maker may be up to no good
with the latest version (9) of their genealogy program. Since I don't
use FTM with any degree of proficiency (I use PAF), I'm passing along
this warning by way of copy and paste. Those of you who use FTM will
want to read this carefully:

"Mattel, the parent company of FTM has included tracking software in
Version 9 which keeps track of everything you do on the internet and
sends a log of your surfing habits to Mattel every time you log on. The
log file is called "aqueduct" and can be found in the root directory of
your C drive. I have deleted the file and gone back to version 8.

"I discovered {this] quite by accident. In an unrelated attempt to fix
one of my screwups on my hardrive, I discovered the file called
"aqueduct" and opened it as I didn't know what it was. I discovered that
it was a log of all my surfing habits and I now know, it covered the
period from when I installed the FTM 9 upgrade to the date I discovered
it and deleted it. I didn't realize it was a FTM by product until I
tried to open FTM (after deleting aqueduct) and I got an error message
saying "Aqueduct" was missing -- it seems that without the file, FTM
version 9 will not run at all. Since I detest tracking software of any
kind, I uninstalled FTM version 9 and reinstalled FTM version 8. Note:
You will have to open and rename your database backup copy as any
database file that you opened and stored in version 9 will be useless."