Perspective: The end of spyware? Fat chance

Why should anyone be surprised that the epidemic of spyware--and its kissing cousin, adware--is getting worse? The raison d'etre for this sort of thing is as American as apple pie.

Call it the unexpected outgrowth of entrepreneurial capitalism. Or if you're wont to take a more cynical view of our affairs, chalk it up to the seamier side of human nature.

In the late 1990s, advertisers wanted more-accurate ways to track click-through rates on their Internet advertisements. Cookies weren't doing the trick, and a cottage industry subsequently grew up that helped companies better monitor Web surfing patterns. Among other things, these companies discovered ways to download code onto computers, code that then popped up relevant advertisements when people opened Web pages.

Fair enough as far as that sort of thing goes. Unfortunately, greed quickly overcame common sense and an epidemic was unleashed that my CNET colleague Esther Dyson characterizes as "the scourge of the year."

She's got that right. At stake is a multibillion-dollar advertising industry that doesn't quite know what to do with the third-party shysters it inadvertently helped spawn.

At stake is a multibillion-dollar advertising industry that doesn't quite know what to do with the third-party shysters it inadvertently helped spawn.

Though the two often get lumped together, a fuzzy line separates adware from spyware. In the case of adware, an ad-generating program gets bundled with a free application, and people who want the app agree to download the whole package (at least theoretically; they're not always aware of the adware component). With spyware, code gets surreptitiously dumped onto people's computers, and there's not even the pretense of soliciting informed consent.

"If you want to be a publisher, long-term, you can't allow this to continue," says Ralph Terkowitz, a partner with ABS Capital Partners and the founder of The Washington Post's electronic publishing subsidiary.

So what is to be done?

The last thing the technology industry may want is an imposed solution. But when phony pop-ups disguise themselves as legitimate Web pages, few politicians will be able to resist going after so inviting a pinata. New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer was first to file a lawsuit charging a company with being a source of adware and spyware programs that hinder online commerce and security. Unless adware companies find a way to better police themselves, other politicians inevitably will follow Spitzer's lead.

The clock is ticking, and the Spitzers of the world smell blood.

The adware guys can read the writing on the wall as easily as anyone, and they understand that their not-exactly-vigorous efforts to gain a potential downloader's consent contributed to the current mess. At a workshop sponsored by CNET's Download.com site, executives from four big adware companies, WhenU, Claria, DirectRevenue and 180solutions, acknowledged their critics and even extended an olive branch.

But they have a credibility problem that is going to be hard to shake. So it was that a guy sitting in front of me was in an unforgiving mood. Listening to their explanations of how the adware industry might clean things up, he shook his head and muttered, "slimeballs, slimeballs."

I don't know how fairly he represented the opinion of people in the audience, but this clearly was a "show me" crowd. To their credit, the companies agreed to participate knowing full well that they faced an unsympathetic gathering. At least there were no fistfights to report.

Maybe it was the start of a fruitful dialogue. But there's an awfully long way to go, and the public increasingly will demand action, not just words. Meanwhile the clock is ticking, and the Spitzers of the world smell blood.

Biography
Charles Cooper is CNET News.com's executive editor of commentary.

More Perspectives

[aabcdefghij987654321]

The problems with adware:

1) They steal bandwidth, cpu cycles and time from the end user. (Yes, "steal". Until they get freely acknowledged consent where the consequences are known in advance they are still thieves).

2) They steal the audience from legitimate advertisements. Like it or not, much of the support for various web pages comes from advertising revenues paid to the operator of those web pages. When an adware program watching an end-user replaces an advertisement on the target website it's an exceptionaly despicable act (that means you Claria!) but by just displaying additional advertisements they devalue the advertisements that are legitimately present on the site.

3) The people who run those companies know the above facts and have chosen not to reform themselves. Calling them scumbags as the person in the articale did is appropriate, calling them thieves and sending them to jail for the thefts they've already pulled would be even more appropriate.

[stjones911]

"Fair enough"? I think not

Anybody who installs software that I do not want on my computer is stealing CPU cycles that belong to me. Period. There is nothing fair about it; it is theft, pure and simple. Every purveyor of software that installs without my informed consent is a thief and, because of the number of victims, is probably guilty of grand larceny as well. Every one of them, from the CEO to the programmer, should do hard time.

[JOSEPHWILSON1952]

Keep The Spyware Counter Attack Up!!!!

I commented on a previous article when C-Nets Download.Com announced that they had eliminated downloads that contained Adware. What a refreshing attitude from a trusted company.
Now it's great to see C-Net News.Com displaying this agressive attitude from its other writers. It's very important to us that the other writers agree with the company bosses.
I agree with the 2 comments received so far. First of all. Stealing is Stealing. I read every agreement (on some real good advise from download.com in an article years ago) before I install a program. But now the adware/spyware slime just send it to your computer without your agreement or knowledge. Thank God for SpyBots TeaTimer module that tells me when something is trying to write to my registry and computer. I was surprized to see where the attempts were orginating. A lot of them were from On-Line Free Lotteries that would try to penetrate my firewall first, and if they didn't get in, then they would try to send spyware. I watched this activity in disgust. My point is, they are trying to get even sneakier, so they can bypass system shields. And it's nerve racking.
YES, They are stealing "OUR" bandwidth, hard drive space, and RAM. And reducing our functionality.
Maybe they have no intelligence at all? When you steal, be assured someone will do something about it. Or did they think we would just sit there and take it?
Do we needs written laws? Well, would that solve the problem? I am not sure. To give an example. While on one of the Free Lotto sites, I begin getting hits on my firewall from locations in China, then they try to download Spyware from the China sites if they get blocked on the firewall. It only happens while my IP address is commuicating with this one U.S. based (U.S. city and state, U.S. assigned IP address, U.S. assigned Network Provider, U.S. Routing provider) Lotto Site. Could a U.S. law be enforced against a foreign country that constantly pound U.S. computers? Could a U.S. law keep a U.S. based company from asking a person in a foreign country to pound on our computers? Not without a worldwide agreement to actively pursue these idiots.
I trust C-Net. They have a broad influence in the computer world. I believe they have the "horsepower" to get something done about this issue that I could not do by myself.
Keep up the good work!!!!!!!

[My-Self]

This is trespassing, plain and simple...

No need for new laws, this is trespassing, plain and simple.

Your computer is your property, by installing their software, they damage your property (adding unwanted popups, using hard drive space, causing crashes, slowing down the machine), they have no valid excuse for being there. Having a firewall constitutes a valid 'non trespassing' sign as required by most laws.

You should be able to call a police officer with enough computer knowledge to certify he saw (whenu, Gator/Claria, 180Solution or any other) installed on your machine and then proceed in courts where you would swear under oath you did never give them any authorization, and never willfully engaged in any relationship with them.

This page applies to New Brunswick, but the principles are universal :
http://www.legal-info-legale.nb.ca/showpub.asp?id=4

[Oscar Rat]

We're Screwed

I think of it as a fight we have little chance to win. Like the so called ?War on Terrorism,? spyware and it?s companion adware is here to stay. There is just too much money involved.

I remember the days when nobody advertised on the Internet, but those are long gone with the advent of the Web Browser and VGA monitors.

Microsoft is in the front lines, in my belief, deliberately leaving holes in their systems, probably in anticipation of the trend. I have a program, familiar to programmers, which tells me the contents of every packet going into or out of my computer. If those programs can be built, it means the ports can be monitored and controlled. Why doesn?t Microsoft do so?

Simply because there is more money in leaving them open. Besides, they want their own access to your computer. Microsoft says it?s just to check compliance, but who know what they monitor, or can monitor in the future? Not to seem paranoiac, I wouldn?t doubt the government has their own uses for those holes, after all they couldn?t bet the ?V? chip passed, why not do it with software?

Right now Microsoft is going into the anti-spyware business, somewhat like asking that proverbial monkey to hold your banana.

What I foresee is the spyware people getting together to split up access in different areas, giving us most of our bandwidth back and getting the law off their backs. They will establish their own so called ?Code of Ethics? to our detriment. Then they?ll sell their information to advertisers.

We will get used to having ads pop up, as unobtrusive as possible, if we don?t use keyboard or mouse in a certain length of time. Just like on television. It?s been show that people will accept a certain amount of ads on television, why not on computers. The ads will be specifically aimed toward our viewing habits. Everyone will be happy except the people who value their privacy.

Oscar Rat

[tsumner]

What is the Crime?

I have been advised that the proper term for this reprehensible behavior is "conversion" as opposed to "theft" when they don't take your computer away but make unauthorized use of it.

[Oscar Rat]

Solved the Adware and Spyware problem.

Well, pretty drastic but I've solved my Adware, Spyware, and general Malware problems, along with the Virus problem.

I just switched to Linux. It took a learning curve and quite a bit of work, but this rodent said goodbye to Windows. At least at the moment, Linux doesn't have those problems.

From what I hear, its just not worth the time and effort to program them for the system. More bang for your buck with Windows.

I was surprised how many different Linux systems there are out there, and how easy they are to install right now. I've tried it in the past, as a lark, but always came back to windows. Linux has always been too hard to install, had too much trouble recognizing hardware, and been klutsy compared to Windows.

The newer editions are ALMOST on a par with my copy of Windows XP Pro.

The good part is that EVERYTHING is free. The system, the updates, and all the programs you need. There are some pay systems, but you can essentially get all you really need for free.

I, myself, chose Debian, because it is entirely free, including updates. Some of the others are starting to charge for the updates as well as some of the programs. Debian says they will always be free, if you can believe that.

The programs are on a par with Windows though. It takes some getting used to, but I don't intend to buy anymore microsoft. I still have XP on one machine. There are a few things it can do that I haven't found a proper substitute for. I probably should just look more, so I can reuse the space on my drive.

Well, just thought I'd leave my rathole for a few minutes to tell you guys.

Oscar Rat

It's all "trashWare"

Whatever you call it, it all slows down my family's machines. Years ago I was wondering why a fairly new computer would slow down so quickly after purchasing or rebuilding it. I invested in some software to monitor the system and noticed strange software just eating cycle after cycle. After spending time researching this I was introduced into the horror of adware and spyware (we refer to it all as trashWare in my house).

I don't imply to say that these companies do not have the right to make a buck just like everyone else. I don't even mind the occasional popup or well placed ad on a web page. After all we are just fooling ourselves if we think the web should be free.

I really don?t mind people monitoring my buying and clicking practices so they can target ads my way. In the end it is my choice to buy or not buy. I gave up worrying about privacy years ago since I know how much is already public record. As my mom said, ?Live you life like she was sitting on my shoulder watching everything I did.? So I don?t care what they know about my boringly normal life that they think is worth selling to someone.

But what I do mind is having to spend hours hunting through my daughter's new PC to find out why it has slowed to a snail?s pace only to find that some trashWare has gotten past of the defenses we have setup. Then this trashWare refuses to uninstall or only partially uninstall only to come back again later. This is what should be illegal.

It should be completely illegal for software to be installed on a machine with first fully explaining the "real and full" intent of the software in large print at the top of the agreement and getting the direct approval of the installer. It should also be illegal for software to defeat the normal operating system?s uninstaller. Now if someone were to sneak into your garage at night and install an extra generator stealing power from you engine to operate an on screen ad display device, this would be deemed illegal very quickly. How is trashWare any different?