No More Emails >>
<< VoIP Pricing Gimmicks Continue: Phone Calls...
 tdicon 


(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Dec 6th 2004 3:39am





What If I Want My Spyware?

from the the-greater-good? dept

Whenever legal questions come up about banning the existence of adware/spyware, we always mention that if people actually want that crap on their computer, they should be allowed to have it. The problem comes when these companies put the software onto computers without users knowing it -- or without adequately revealing what happens to their info. People in the comments have attacked us for saying such things, often saying that no one could ever possibly want adware or spyware on their machines. Well, now we know some people who disagree with that. Wired News is running an article about the type of people who are perfectly happy to have a spyware infested computer, if it means they get to use whatever free software they've downloaded. The reasoning is mostly head-in-the-sand type stuff, where they figure they have nothing worth spying on, so what do they care? This may seem short-sighted and foolish, but it is up to them to make that decision.

4 Comments | Leave a Comment..


If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
 

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  

    security 101

    identicon
    Tim, Dec 6th, 2004 @ 5:12am

    I wouldn't call myself a security freak, but I do find it amazing that people would be so stupidly irresponsible. What happens if your visiting friend uses your machine to do some internet banking? Are you going to declare up front "don't use it, it's not safe"? Is it not insanity to assume that *no* bad-hats will ever crack into the database storing what they typed?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Spyware v/s Zombie

    identicon
    data64, Dec 6th, 2004 @ 9:20am

    Spyware itself is probably upto the person to decide whether (s)he wants it, but if the PC is being used as a zombie for ddos attacks or for sending spam, spim, etc then it no longer is just upto that person and impacts everyone else.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    crappity article

    identicon
    jeremiah, Dec 7th, 2004 @ 1:00am

    That article was sh*t.

    I don't even know where to start. I'm going to pretend Wired had the dignity not to run that.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    More than One PC

    identicon
    Alex B., Dec 12th, 2004 @ 9:53pm

    I actually have two computers, one for my private / daily stuff and the other (which is an old celeron one) for experimental work and software testing, I usually re-install that one (from a system snapshot CD) on a regular basis because of the all too obvious reasons. So I can see curious spyware and other sort of software without worries.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>


No More Emails >>
<< VoIP Pricing Gimmicks Continue: Phone Calls...
 tdicon 

A word from our Sponsors...
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss

Powered by Postrank

From the Techdirt Archive...
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This