Is spyware legal?
Spyware authors that 'piggyback' or 'bundle' their code with legitimate software programs claim that when a user accepts the End User License Agreement (EULA) provided for a legitimate program, this constitutes an invitation to install bundled spyware or adware. Of course, few people read EULAs and, in many cases, references to spyware are buried in the EULA text. Legal experts agree that, in most cases, this does not constitute an invitation to install unwanted programs.
Yet, there have been very few prosecutions of spyware authors or distributors. Some jurisdictions, the state of Utah for example, have passed legislation making it illegal to install software on any computer without the user's explicit permission. However, such laws are both rare and difficult to enforce. Even laws that prevent identity theft offer little disincentive to spyware makers, who are often both difficult to identify and shielded by the difficulty of prosecuting across multiple jurisdictions. For example, you may live in Canada but the web site that forcibly downloaded spyware onto your computer may be registered to a company in Moscow, the spyware itself could be the property of a company based in Atlanta, and the recipient of your user profile may be in Frankfurt.
|
