Spyware, When Will It Be Controlled?

[RoboJoe32]

Spyware, Advertisers right? Or internet vandalism and terrorism?

As spyware gets more malicious, More difficult to remove, more forceful into your machine and it's methods get more and more virus-like..... When will someone just stand up and just say "Enough?" When will there be action against the companies who MAKE this stuff? Will the FCC, supreme courts, and law in general just let the entire internet be ovverun by banners, popups, spyware, and malware? untill everyone's PC is crippled?

Will there EVER be laws to control it? And should there be?


Edit:Spywareinfo.com, spywareinfo.net, spywareinfo.org, tomcoyote.org, merijn.org, malware.us, mikehealan.com and dogreader.com are under MASSIVE Ddos attack and can't be accessed, so I can't update my CWS shredder and find out how to remove my latest problems :angry:


Discuss.

 

[Swiss_Cheeseman]

Firefox + Adaware = Problem Solved

 

[RoboJoe32]

Not really, this generation of spyware is a pain in the ass...

I now have firefox.

I have ad-ware, Spybot search and destroy, spy sweeper, CWS shredder, and Hi-jack this!


And it still can't catch everything.

 

[Swiss_Cheeseman]

Not really, this generation of spyware is a pain in the ass...

I now have firefox.

I have ad-ware, Spybot search and destroy, spy sweeper, CWS shredder, and Hi-jack this!


And it still can't catch everything.

Any other spyware you get is either harmless cookies or stuff you installed. Many programs, as you may know, have spyware packaged in them. It's pretty easy to tell what they are since they tell you before you install it in the fine print. Because of that I install next to no commercial products and just go with Open Source alternatives which are usually much safer.

 

[RoboJoe32]

Browseing my usual gaming sites and random articles has given me over 4 varients of CWS, several browser hi-jackers, and I just recently had to remove several java trojans.

So I havn't been installing anything, And they certainly weren't harmless.


Anyways, the discussion is about spyware control law, not my PC =P

 

[Rico]

Interesting, because I've used Mozilla & Firefox for some two years and haven't picked up a SINGLE piece of spyware using it.

In fact the closest I came to it was a plugin popup box, a few months ago. It asked me if I wanted to install something, but I closed it automatically. With Firefox you can't just 'OK' these plugins; you have to wait, and it warns you of the consequences much more thoroughly than IE does.

As for laws, do you really think the spyware authors will obey them? Is CAN-SPAM being obeyed?

 

[Mark]

Be warned when using adaware; I used it to clean up my pc at the weekend. It fucked with my registery so that I couldn't use the internet;. It is a great program though.

 

[raven]

Spyware will never be stopped, when the first big companies started spying (Real) people still complained, they even had to defend themselves in court, now all major companies are doing it.

The malicious spyware you are talking about is installed by the same people that gave you spam and virusses, I don't think making it illegal will stop them.

I don't think your computer has ever been completely cleaned from your previous spyware problem RoboJoe32 (or you have reinstalled something you shouldn't have). Using Firefox and keeping my Windows up-to-date I don't even get a single tracking-cookie.

 

[RoboJoe32]

The thing is, if there ARE any laws against spyware, they certainly aren't being enforced (Just look at the sites that give out information about spyware companies, addresses, phone numbers, names, the whole 9 yard!) And they still aren't ground under the heel of major courts... Funnny how the standards concerning the internet are so backwards, People bend over backwards trying to stop MP3s and piracy, yet sit back and let spyware companies make dime a dozen theinly veiled viruses to infect, annoy, and waste people's time.

 

[diablo2]

what is the point of spyware...
what do people who send it out get from it?

 

[Neomorpheus]

I got to agree about firefox.
wheneva a site tries to store a cookie you get the option whether you want to block em or accept em.

 

[Dolfhin]

Opera + All cookies Block + Thinking = Spyware free

 

[diablo2]

i just ran ad-aware se personal addition
and now i feel squikey clean