Adware maker joins federal privacy board | CNET News.com When I first saw this headline I thought it must have come from theOnion.com. Sadly, this is for real. The Department of Homeland Security is forming a privacy board and one of the appointees is D. Reed Freeman, vice president of Claria, formerly known as Gator. Unless you've been very careful you've probably had some of Gator's software installed on your computer without your permission. Once it's installed, their spyware serves ads and reports back to the company about what you're doing. That doesn't sound like the type of company that I want involved in forming privacy policy.