Spyware feeds on fear of computers

Judging from my email, spyware rivals spam as a cause of frustration among PC owners.

After I wrote a column about spyware, a number of readers emailed me about having their Web browsers "hijacked," about "parasites" infecting their computers, about powerful PCs having been reduced to crashing and freezing blobs.

They were aggravated and outraged, and why not? Even after running reputable spyware removal programs, such as Ad-aware and Spybot Search and Destroy, their computers sometimes suffered from spyware-induced glitches, or so they believed. (Once spyware invades your PC, any quirk seems to stem from the intrusion.)

Spyware feeds on our worst fears about computers -- that the machine, this unknowable mass of plastic, metal and ever-mysterious code, is being taken over by unseen and malevolent forces. In the case of spyware, that's pretty much true.

Spyware is a type of software installed surreptitiously on PCs, often as a way of gathering information about you or displaying ads without your permission. (Sometimes, both.) It is installed without your permission, typically when downloading another application, and then proceeds to disrupt your computer. As if that were not enough, spyware often sprays bits of computer code into the far corners of your machine in an effort to prevent its easy removal.

It is as if someone entered your home when you were at the mall, installed undetectable devices to track your food consumption, and altered your TV set to interrupt "The Sopranos" with ads about potato chips and porn.

You couldn't live like that. You would go crazy, not knowing when Tony and Carmela would be zapped to oblivion by an illicit advertisement. You would demand action.

Action, as it happens, is forthcoming -- well, legislative and regulatory proposals, at least.

The SPYBLOCK Act, a recent proposal by three U.S. senators, would prohibit installing software without a computer user's permission. It also mandates easy-to-follow procedures for removing software. Enforcement would be entrusted to the FTC and state attorneys general.

The FTC, meanwhile, is planning to hold a public workshop on spyware on April 19 in Washington. The agency is particularly concerned about youngsters downloading file-trading software, typically used to share music, and unintentionally infecting home computers with spyware.

But is it possible any action on the legislative and regulatory fronts, no matter how strongly worded, would be unable to stop the spread of spyware? Is it possible nothing can be done?

Entirely possible. The CAN-SPAM Act is now the law, but it hasn't had much of an impact on junk email, judging from my in-box.

And yet, even knowing relief is unlikely -- short-term relief, at least -- legislation addressing spyware makes sense for a number of reasons:

* The SPYBLOCK Act, for one, would make it easier for law enforcement officials to target the purveyors of spyware. You can be sure politically ambitious attorneys general would love the idea of bagging spyware companies.

* Sending spam is easy -- anyone with an email account can do it -- but creating spyware requires genuine technical expertise. The threat of fines might dissuade today's spyware makers, or at least put them on the run.

* I'm not much for revenge as a reason for legislation, but I don't doubt spyware's victims will relish the idea of spyware being singled out by the government.

Or, for instant gratification, share your spyware story with the Center for Democracy and Technology. The group recently filed a complaint with the FTC alleging a company altered computer users' home pages in an effort to scare them into buying spyware removal software. (The lesson here: Only use reputable anti-spyware programs.)

Spam has been around for years, and I don't doubt spyware will be, too. But maybe, if we begin to tackle this sooner, rather than later, spyware will simply be an annoyance, rather than a full-fledged epidemic.

By Allan Hoffman
Last updated: Sunday, March 21, 2004, 9:05 am