Anti-Spyware Law...

[Wing Nut]

It's about time someone did this!  Personally, I think anyone who installs spyware on a comuter should rot in hell...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... et_spyware

[Drastic]

*apploads* well its about friggin time

[Chris_F]

Now only if they'd pass a bill outlawing adware as well.  I had an adware "infection" that was a real pain to get rid of.  Eventually had to purchase Norton Internet Security as none of the freeware fixes worked at all.  The program would pop up ads at any time (not just when I was searching the web).  Sometimes these ads popped up and downloaded movie trailers which would display full screen.  I couldn't exit out of them and they'd play for a good minute until they finally decided to give me back control of my PC.  Don't remeber anything in any lisencing agreement that allowed the instal of such software on my PC.

[Felix/FFDS]

#1 I hope that the law distinguishes "cookies" like those from Simviation, that merely state "you were here before, so let me update you as to what posts are new"

#2 So, how is the law going to be enforced against foreign phishers/ spyware content makers?

[RollerBall]

This is well overdue. The law should cover the installation of ANY software, including cookies, without the express permission of the PC owner. So when someone joins a site even like SimV they should need to click on a button sending a form back to the site who would need to hold it on a database, showing that they had received permission to place their cookie on said PC.

This would mean that sites would have a legal obligation to explain EXACTLY what form their cookies take, what they do, whether they are active in any way etc - it would be easy to create a pro-forma that every site would have to use. It would also need to cover dubious toolbars, search bars and all the other subterfuges that these jokers use to place crap on the machines of unsuspecting people.

You can't have any allowances otherwise all you do is create legal loopholes which are then exploited.

Plus there would have to be international agreements in place.

BTW I noticed this morning when I was using my other disk (I have removable drives as I've learned that I have to protect my business stuff) that whenever I clicked on a SimV page that had a certain MediaFastClick banner on top, my SpyBot stopped crap (probably tracker software or a data miner) being placed on my PC. This is how these b*st*rds work.

I see the same banner is there now advertising Blockbuster video so I can assume that this disk (which does not have SpyBot on it) is now infected and will need to have an Adaware or Spybot run.

This is a very serious international problem and I'm afraid I don't think that our politicians who can't see beyond the next new tax scheme are competent or qualified to deal with it.

God help us!

[Hagar]

This is a very serious international problem and I'm afraid I don't think that our politicians who can't see beyond the next new tax scheme are competent or qualified to deal with it.

My thoughts exactly. This is an international problem. If it's banned in one country the people involved will find somewhere else to operate from. It's a big world out there. Getting governments from 2 different countries to agree on anything, far more important issues than spyware, is virtually impossible.

PS. I'm not against the idea. This is a start but I suspect that most of the people involved with the legislation have less knowledge of the Internet than any member of this forum. They just don't appreciate the difficulties. Maybe one day but I don't see an effective solution to this problem happening in my lifetime.

[ozzy72]

This law won't change anything unfortunately. It is like Hagar says, they'll just operate out of a base in a country that doesn't have these laws, or that can't enforce them
It is a lovely idea, and at least shows someone out there is trying to use the old grey matter, but alas it is not realistically enforcable...

Ozzy

[chomp_rock]

Too bad it would be a nearly uninforceable law Spyware sucks a$$!