Thank you Deltik and Dutch!
As a quite ideological Gridcoiner, this matter concerned me the moment I had read about it. One follow up question:
How did they explain or behave themselves regarding of why they are using and distributing Charity Engine in the first place? As they state themselves that it benefits of users unaware or incapable, why do they continue spreading it, especially over bundles? This seems an awkward, not to say malicious choice.
Of course one can argue about opt-in adware being ethical correct, but then one also has to argue about capability of informed choices etc.. And then there is the monetarisation, and the "Idea of Gridcoin" matter. Hmpf, difficult!
Charity Engine did explain this one. They said that their target audience is intentionally the less tech-savvy, as this is where a lot of untapped potential compute power can be found. The BOINC community has a fairly limited supply compared to the all the average computer users who wouldn't think to go to BOINC.
Oh dear, if this is their motivation, I would go for malicious as they profit with 33% from that work. If they would not take any money out of this it would be another matter, but since they do...