Think Tank Wants Public's Help in 'Spyware' Fight

I don't know if this belongs in this thread or not, so feel free to move it if necessary.

Think Tank Wants Public's Help in 'Spyware' Fight

By Brian Krebs
November 24, 2003

Spyware can cause sluggish PC performance and system instability, and can unleash a barrage of pop-up ads and unsolicited bulk e-mail, popularly known as spam. In the most egregious cases, spyware can be extremely invasive -- it can track what Web sites people visit and the keywords they enter in search engines.

A Washington-based technology think tank wants Internet users to join its crusade against invasive "spyware" programs that let their authors eavesdrop on people's online activities.

The Center for Democracy and Technology urged Americans to submit details about their encounters with spyware, which often comes packaged as an unwanted addition to popular downloads like software for trading music files. The group said it will compile those experiences and submit them to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as part of its campaign to spur the federal government to take action against businesses that do not clearly tell people that they are opening their personal online lives to strangers.

"We have read many stories about consumers who did not know that these programs were on their computer and then, when they went to delete them, found that they just wouldn't go away," said CDT Associate Director Ari Schwartz. "We are asking computer users to tell us the problems they have encountered and we'll test the programs ourselves and file complaints where warranted."

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http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/32242.html