In 2002, an article in Consumer Reports Web Watch labelled BonziBuddy as spyware, stating that it contains a backdoor trojan that collects information from users. It is often referred to in some software as Adult Male #2.Ī number of sources identify BonziBuddy as spyware, a claim the company disputed. The voice was called Sydney and taken from an old Lernout & Hauspie Microsoft Speech API 4.0 package. The program also used a text-to-speech voice to interact with the user. Later versions of BonziBuddy in May 2000 featured its own character: Bonzi, the purple gorilla.
The software used Microsoft Agent technology similar to Office Assistant, and originally sported Peedy, a green parrot and one of the characters available with Microsoft Agent.
