Fines for spyware...?

tank girl

tank girl

New Member
Seriously....how effective could this be? Isn't it a bit too late? I would have thought that it might be a better option at this stage to be setting up some sort of fund for open-source and freeware anti-spyware software! Actually, theoretically that might work with the funds that they recieve with these "fines" mightn't it?
hmmm....


California sets fines for spyware
By Peter Bowes
in Los Angeles
Arnold Schwarzenegger approved the measure
The makers of computer programs that secretly spy on what people do with their home PCs could face hefty fines in California.

From 1 January, a new law is being introduced to protect computer users from software known as spyware.

The legislation, which was approved by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, (ahem*chuckle*), is designed to safeguard people from hackers and help protect their personal information.

Spyware is considered by computer experts to be one of the biggest nuisance and security threats facing PC users in the coming year.

The software buries itself in computers and can collect a wide range of information.

At its worst, it has the ability to hijack personal data, like passwords, login details and credit card numbers.

The programs are so sophisticated they change frequently and become impossible to eradicate.

Ad onslaught

One form of spyware called adware has the ability to collect information on a computer user's web-surfing.

It can result in people being bombarded with pop-up ads that are hard to close.

In Washington, Congress has been debating four anti-spyware bills, but California is a step ahead.

The state's Consumer Protection Against Spyware Act bans the installation of software that takes control of another computer.

It also requires companies and websites to disclose whether their systems will install spyware.

Consumers are able to seek up to $1,000 in damages if they think they have fallen victim to the intrusive software.

The new law marks a continuing trend in California towards tougher privacy rights.

A recent survey by Earthlink and Webroot found that 90% of PCs are infested with the surreptitious software and that, on average, each one is harbouring 28 separate spyware programs.

Currently users wanting protection from spyware have turned to free programs such as Spybot and Ad-Aware....
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I found this other article too about the "Internet Spyware Prevention Act "

US seeks to fine spyware makers

The Spy Act aims to impose civil penalties when spyware is smuggled on to a PC without an owner's knowledge or consent. Those found guilty could face a fine of up to $3m.

The measure demands that any maker of a spyware program gets permission from a user to install itself and gets their agreement about what kinds of information can be collected.

However, it does nothing to tackle spy programs that watch the keys being press and steal personal information because existing US laws already criminalise this behaviour....

The Internet Spyware Prevention Act (aka I Spy Act), proposes jail sentences for those who hide installations of spyware and the gather personal information without permission.
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What spyware solutions do you use? I'm using ad-aware and spybot...I have a firewall and Trend Micro antivirus...and trying out Primedius, all on Mozilla firefox is there anything else that I could be doing or would you say thats probably okay?

I'm interested to here what you do to try and tackle the problem on your pc..
 
Oddly enough with all the wunderful spyware and trojans that popped up months ago I've found today's answer.

Format C:

And load a clean install of XP with all the current updates including SP2.

I'm something of a purist when it comes to PC performance. The only way to get maximum speed out of XP is to have the least amount of 'processes' running. With SP2 and a clean load of XP the need for Ad-Aware type spyware cleaners, firewalls and virus checkers is obviated. Download all the security updates from Mickeysoft and you’ll be good to go!

Now I always go into XP on the systems I set up and tweak the running processes to turn off the massive bloat. On boot on a newly loaded system no more than 18 to 21 processes should be running in task manager. I've seen a P-III 800 system equal or surpass a P-IV 3.0 in responsiveness and speed.

Most folks have so much crap running in the background that their systems crawl along like a 286.

Of course all of this assumes your comp is behind an adequate hardware firewall...

Oh and on the silly-assed idea of ‘fining’ spyware authors hah I say, Hah!
 
Hardware firewall, Zonealarm, and spybot and adaware (with the always on functions turned OFF).

Never had an issue, always scan clean. Cookies are always a rich ground for adaware, but there's no solving that unless you want to turn cookies off.
 
"Zonealarm, and spybot and adaware"
3 WHOLLY unnecessary programs to drain resources
but hey if your running a P-IV 3.6 Ghz system overclocked to 4,050 Mhz with watercooling and 3 Gig of DDR2 RAM just to surf OTC and check e-mail, what's a few extra cycles?
 
Spybot & adaware...off until the occasional search & destroy mission.
 
But how about if you ran them time after time and found nothing? heh heh

a course mebbe you've been frequenting places you shouldn't a oughta? lol
 
"There is nothing that may not be looked upon."

Oh, and I like Pest Patrol.

Leslie said:
Microsoft (proud makers of MediaPlayer) is based in California, no?
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No. Redmond, WA.
 
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