Comments on: Washington wakes up to spyware, adware

Canning spam is no longer the biggest Internet concern in Congress. Two current bills seek to regulate the programs that take personal information and deliver pop-up ads.

Is open source a solution?

I suggest to force all spyware/adware marketers to release the source code of their advertising software for peer review so that we all known what exactly what these things are doing in our computers.

[rpmyers1]

Yeah right

How do you verify that what is installed is the source provided?

Who is going to build this on their own? Heck, how many Windows users build their own software? Granted, the VC++ command line compiler is available for free now, but how many users have it?

[anthonycea]

Transmission of page views to third parties should by outlawed!

All transmissions of page views to ANY third party should be outlawed. This is spyware any way you look at it, real privacy would do away with this practice.

We study spyware and adware at http://www.searchwars.squarespace.com see the "Lawmakers" page to see Senator Burns proposed law to outlaw Spyware, the link to the Press release is on that page.

[anthonycea]

IS GOOGLE SPYING?

You will find the following thread very informative.

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?p=116439#116439

Why do folks get up in arms about such a simple issue?

[Mistermellow]

Beyond the more important aspects of privacy, the proliferation of advertising-embedded software is dumbing down the industry. Look at the proliferation of do-nothing iPhone apps that flash incessant annoying ad banners. There is even a sound-effects app (yes, farts) that repeatedly throws up a pop-up window asking permission to use your location! Saying no doesn't stop the dialog box from popping up. At least it asks. So, its intent is not to amuse, but to use; advertising seems to be the SOLE reason some of these apps exist.

You can't even shoe gaze in the store anymore. My local "big-box" home store puts ads on the floor! How can consumers not be numb to these ads? Back to software, I realize software developers have to make a buck, but I would rather pay for quality software than to pay less for ad-subsidized apps at the expense of my patience and my screen real-estate. Adware is a pox on the entire software industry.