Senate panel mulls action on spyware

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7818285/

The Senate Commerce Committee took up the increasingly vexing issue of spyware Wednesday, but finished the conversation without consensus on how to stop it. In fact, there wasn't even consensus on what spyware is.

Several pieces of federal legislation aimed at curbing spyware are making their way through Congress, but initiatives have gotten bogged down by the disagreement over terms. At the heart of the issue is this question: Should all unwanted pop-up ad software be banned by federal law, or just programs deemed to be fraudulent?

In the pop-up advertising industry, firms make a distinction between adware -- installed with a user's consent, however minimal -- and spyware, which sneaks its way onto computers.

"The problem is nobody thinks the software they produce is spyware," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

[TahitiNut]

1. "Should all unwanted pop-up ad software be banned by federal law?"

Fuck yes! What's so difficult to understand about the word "unwanted"?? Don't these assholes comprehend the concept of informed consent??

[musette_sf]

2. Here is one of the main problems:

There are fradulent "companies" out there that actually sell "anti-spyware" software. This rogue software is really the worst kind of spyware. It not only installs its own malicious crap, but then it spawns other apps that go out and look for servers that will install more malicious crap.

These "anti-spyware" programs are primarily advertised in pop-up ads, and the "companies" that sell this evil crap also buy positioning on search engines like Google. In this way, the innocent respond to a pop-up, or to a listing when they search Google for something to fix their problem, and think they are buying a remedy for their $29.95, but are actually spending money to increase and proliferate the problem.

Example: Casale Media and VBouncer are two of the worst spyware offenders; anyone who has done a serious search and destroy on their own system knows wherefrom I speak. Each of them has a rogue "anti-spyware" program available!

Here is a convenient list of rogue products to refer to:
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm