What is Spyware?

In general, Spy-ware is technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the Internet, Spy-Ware is a program that is put on someone's computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties. Spy-Ware can get in a computer as a software virus or as the result of installing a new program. Data collecting programs that are installed with the user's knowledge are not, properly speaking, Spy-Ware, if the user fully understands what data is being collected and with whom it is being shared.

The Cookie is a well-known mechanism for storing information about an Internet user on their own computer. However, the existence of cookies and their use is generally not concealed from users, who can also disallow cookie to access information. Nevertheless, to the extent that a Web site stores information about you in a cookie that you don't know about, the cookie mechanism could be considered a form of Spy-Ware. Double-Click, a leading banner ad serving company, changed its plans to combine cookie information with database information from other sources to target ad campaigns directly to individuals without their permission. Double-Click's current policy is not to collect "personally-identifiable" information about a user without their explicit permission or "opt-in."

Aureate Media, which distributes free software on the Web in exchange for the right to gather user information, is another company that has been criticized for not plainly indicating what data it gathers and for making it difficult to remove its programs.

Spy-Ware is part of an overall public concern about privacy on the Internet.

Spy-ware is Internet jargon for Advertising Supported software (Ad-ware). It is a way for shareware authors to make money from a product, other than by selling it to the users. There are several large media companies that offer them to place banner ads in their products in exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales. This way, you don't have to pay for the software and the developers are still getting paid. If you find the banners annoying, there is usually an option to remove them, by paying the regular licensing fee.

While producers of ad-ware claim its purpose is merely to collect information about Internet habits in order to deliver ads tailored to a surfer's interests, privacy advocates are concerned about the potential misuse of this data. Where does it come from? Most likely it was installed alongside that free software widget that you downloaded just last week, without you even noticing.

America is fascinated with spying. The popularity of Survivor, Big Brother, and even Cops is testament to that. But what if the cameras were turned on you, without your knowledge?

Advertisers, Web designers, and even the government are using the Net to spy on you. Downloaded software, Web bugs, and cookies target you while you're online, watching and recording your actions and turning that information over to eager advertisers. These Spy-Ware technologies gather personal information, such as your IP address and shopping habits, without your knowledge or consent. Ostensibly, the uses of this technology from direct marketing to helpful cookies that can remember login names or automatically fill in forms--are relatively benign.

Spy-Ware's real threat is not the specter of spam or targeted banner ads; it's a more insidious loss of privacy. Privacy advocates say there are other risks from personal information collection, not the least of which is the potential for abuse once private information is in the wild. Once that data is out of your hands, you don't know where it will end up.

So far, there are discussions about regulation but little real action. Until there is, if you're concerned about privacy, spy ware, or spam, follow some of these rules and instructions to detect, recognize, and kick out sneaky spy ware.