Religious video game leaves spyware behind

The video game Left Behind seemed destined to tear a giant fiery swath of controversy through the digital landscape. Based on the series of novels of the same name, Left Behind is a Christian-themed game set in New York City, a few years after the arrival of the Anti-Christ and the ascent of one-third of the world’s population (presumably the “good third”) into heaven.
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Now, as if the game itself was not controversial enough, it has been discovered that the publishers, Left Behind Games (a publicly traded company, even) have added money-changers to their particular temple. The game comes fully loaded with what some would term built-in spyware, in the form of in-game advertising that tracks the amount of time ads are seen, how often the game is played, and the player’s geographical and personal information. It then sends this data back to the advertiser’s servers. From the horse’s mouth:

“All Double Fusion campaigns provide detailed campaign reporting for full accountability, and, unlike other media, advertisers only pay for the time their ads are seen…unlike TV, unlike the web, and unlike print. No medium is more accountable and measurable in terms of the actual time spent with advertising.”