I Spy
Ewwww. That sort of thing always makes me want to yank my Internet connection. Clearly, I'm being tracked and while I'm a fairly boring person with nothing much to hide, it bugs the heck out of me.
I'll be upfront and say I've never checked the iBook notebook I use for work nor the Sony VAIO system I have at home for spyware. But I'm not sure how much longer I can remain in suspense.
The Wall Street Journal's Lee Gomes actually triggered this entry with his article Monday about his spyware experiences. You probably need a subscription to get to read this, but here's the link .
One of CRN's favorite reader gadflys, Oli Thordarson of Alvaka Networks, has recently sent us some info about anti-spyware legislation wending it's way through our federal and state legislative processes. Click here for a quick primer on the federal bill, which essentially requires that users be warned when a program that watches their usage and traffic patterns is downloaded to their system. That bill, dubbed the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act (SPY Act), specifies penalties up to $3 million.
A bill specific to California has drawn the ire of service providers and technology companies for its vague language. Here's a CRN article on the subject . Although those in the high-tech industry had encouraged amendments to the bill, not all of them were adopted. And since the CRN piece was published, a number of companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Alvaka, PGP, Amazon.com, Alvaka and the American Electronics Association have come out in opposition. Here's the latest bill language .