Catfight in the spyware corral

A group devoted to setting anti-spyware standards and helping consumers distinguish between safe and harmful software is on the rocks, with three founding members resigning in protest over policies they say are too lax.

It's a "catfight in the spyware corral," as one security expert called it.

Webroot Software, Aluria Software and Computer Associates International's PestPatrol successively announced their departures in recent days from the Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology vendors (Coast).

The walkout came just weeks after the group welcomed adware-maker 180Solutions as a member. That decision capped growing frustration over the group's direction, according to representatives from Aluria and Webroot, making it impossible for them to remain.

"It became clear that the anti-spyware members would be outnumbered by the companies that had nothing to do with anti-spyware."

--Richard Stiennon, vice president, Webroot

"Coast had done an about-face, starting to allow and entertain requests for so-called adware companies to join," said Richard Stiennon, vice president of threat research at Webroot, which makes the popular spyware removal tool Spy Sweeper.

The infighting highlights sharp disagreements within the software industry over "adware" and "spyware," a difficult-to-define class of applications that trigger advertising on PC screens and collect data, such as Web surfing histories, to personalize marketing messages. Practices run the gamut, from displaying small banner ads inside applications to infiltrating operating systems and taking over key computing functions without notice or permission.

While clear examples of legitimate and illegitimate behavior are easy to find, drawing a bright line between them has proven to be extremely difficult.

According to Stiennon, Webroot co-founded Coast in 2003 to help establish industry-binding guidelines defining spyware and a code of ethics surrounding the distribution of desktop software. Instead of sticking to the mission, he said, the group sought to reform bad actors by helping them change and become certified.

"It became clear that the anti-spyware members would be outnumbered by the companies that had nothing to do with anti-spyware," Stiennon added.

Webroot's departure Friday caused a domino effect among its partners. Aluria resigned, and then Computer Associates said Monday that it, too, would leave.

The remaining members of Coast include advertising software makers New.net, Weatherbug and 180Solutions.

Todd Sawick, a representative for 180Solutions, said that the company is disappointed with Coast's troubles. But he reiterated that the company's software was certified "spyware free" by the group.

"We are moving forward on an individual basis with all the former Coast scanning application members. We're proud of our accomplishments with Coast and will continue to serve as a leader in legitimate keyword search advertising," he said.

180Solutions, which makes downloadable software that tracks

[Not Bugged]

The thieves have taken over the house

I call them thieves because they steal (specifically use without permission) computer resources (disk space, computer memory, computer processing power) from their victims. Even if they installed using a well known and expected mechanism instead of a vulnerability they'd still be thieves if they were installing without the victims explicit permission.<br /><br />COAST decided to invite the thieves to participate and have lost their organization because the thieves have gained control. It just drives home the point that you can't trust thieves.

Excuse me but...

Excuse me but when a company installs software on your computer secretly so that they can push ads to your (that you not no money from, just a waste of disk space, memory and other resources) and so they can track what you do on the net what the hell are you supposed to call this? It is spyware otherwise they would have asked you to install it, you would get a little money kick back from installing it, you would be able to uninstall it without having to jump through flaming hoops from hell and they would track every move you made on the net.<br /><br />This is all bulls*hit and all involved with approving such cr*p knows it.<br /><br />Robert