Spyware bill reintroduced in Congress; It allow fines of up to $3M for spyware software makers

Computerworld ^ | JANUARY 05, 2005 | Grant Gross

[holymoly]

More here:

House approves spyware legislation
"EarthLink said Wednesday that a scan of 3 million computer systems over nine months found 83 million instances of spyware. Spyware programs hide in PCs and secretly monitor user activity. Typically, spyware arrives bundled with freeware or shareware, or through e-mail or instant messages."

[Maceman]

Fines are all well and good, but this should be a criminal offense with long jail sentences attached.

[Reagan Man]

Until our inside the beltway CongressCritters wakeup --- or should I say, if and when --- I suggest everyone get anti- spyware and anti-adware software. Pay if you like, or go for the freebies like, Spybot S&D and Javacools SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard.

[dighton]

“Something lingering, with boiling oil in it, I fancy. Something of that sort.”

[supercat]

Fines are all well and good, but this should be a criminal offense with long jail sentences attached.

I'd also like to see legislation that would allow defendants in criminal trial for nearly any crime short of murder to introduce evidence that the alleged victim acted, at any time following the passage of the act, as a producer of spam or spyware; and require that the jury be informed they were free to make of that whatever they saw fit.

Methinks such legislation would be a pretty strong deterrent.

[Dinsdale]

Wow a US law.

The guys in the Ukrain must be shaking /sarcasm.

[holymoly]

Pay if you like, or go for the freebies like, Spybot S&D and Javacools SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard.

Good recommendations.

For the neophytes: Ad-Aware SE from Lavasoft is another good choice. Spybot S&D offers real-time protection, as well as "tweaks" for protecting MSIE. (Users may need to select Spybots' "Advanced" mode to have access to some of these features.)

(Check my FR homepage for links.)

[ThinkDifferent]

this should be a criminal offense with long jail sentences attached.

And I don't understand how it doesn't already qualify under existing laws against electronic fraud and tresspass.

[Reagan Man]

>>>>For the neophytes: Ad-Aware SE from Lavasoft is another good choice.

Until its most recent incarnation, Ad-Aware was an excellent free anti-adware program. I didn't mention Ad-Aware because the newest version is not bug-free. YET! Many users have experienced significant problems, such as system/mouse freezeups and in some cases, system shutdowns.

[konaice]

"EarthLink said Wednesday that a scan of 3 million computer systems over nine months

And did Earthlink Seek permission to perform such a scan?????

[Blue Screen of Death]

Fines are all well and good, but this should be a criminal offense with long jail sentences attached.

Sounds good but, when it moves from a civil infraction to a criminal infraction all of the protections of criminal defendants kick in. It would require much higher standards of evidence. It would move from a preponderance of evidence to beyond a reasonable doubt. It is much harder to get a criminal conviction than a civil court case requires.

[konaice]

I'd also like to see legislation that would allow defendants in criminal trial for nearly any crime short of murder to introduce evidence that the alleged victim acted, at any time following the passage of the act, as a producer of spam or spyware;

What are you trying to say here?

Why should a victim of grand-theft-auto be subjected to questioning about wether they were a spammer?

Your point is referentially opaque!

[KoRn]

I hate spyware as much as anyone, but be very weary of this. Keep your eyes out for bad provisions included in this bill.

[KoRn]

out=open LOL!!

You can keep your eye out if you wanna haha!

[Maceman]

Sounds good but, when it moves from a civil infraction to a criminal infraction all of the protections of criminal defendants kick in. It would require much higher standards of evidence. It would move from a preponderance of evidence to beyond a reasonable doubt. It is much harder to get a criminal conviction than a civil court case requires.

No problem. The civil case can still be brought by the victims, either separately or as a class action. Kind of like the victims' families making a civil claim for wrongful death against a defendant in a murder case.

[HAL9000]

Until our inside the beltway CongressCritters wakeup --- or should I say, if and when --- I suggest everyone get anti- spyware and anti-adware software. Pay if you like, or go for the freebies like, Spybot S&D and Javacools SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard.

It's easier to just get a Mac.

Apple Founders Wozniak and Jobs receive the National Medal of Technology from President Reagan

[xrp]

This is hilarious. None of the old fogies in Congress understand the Internet and how IMPOSSIBLE it is to control this. There are private sector products that protect against these things.

[xrp]

It is probably buried in your service agreement with Earthlink. So you give permission when you pay them $39.95/month and connect your PC(s) to THEIR service.

[FierceDraka]

Isn't breaking (hacking) into a private computer or network already a criminal offense? Taken that way, new legislation is not needed - we just need for those responsible for enforcing the laws to get off their a$$es and do their damn jobs.

[holymoly]

Isn't breaking (hacking) into a private computer or network already a criminal offense?

If it could be proven, I would think so. Of course, some (much?) adware/spyware comes bundled with shareware/freeware. People grant "permission" to install it when they click the "Accept" button without carefully reading the EULA (if it's even mentioned).