Pull My Finger... For Payment >>
<< In-Game Ad Market Booming
 tdicon 


Computers

by Carlo Longino

Wed, Jan 25th 2006 9:01am





Academics To Take On Spyware

from the revenge-of-the-nerds dept

Internet centers at Harvard and Oxford universities are setting up a project to name and shame spyware vendors. The project's web site -- StopBadware.org -- will compile a list of software that carries "badware" for users to check against before they install something, as well as turning the spotlight on companies that make the software in an attempt to draw unwanted attention to them or even support lawsuits against them. Other people are taking a similar approach, but given the groups behind the project and its big-name backers (Google, Lenovo and Sun), this one should prove highly visible. The first order of business for the group, though, is to settle on a definition of badware.

4 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    fredfrumppy, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 9:09am

    finally. its about time someone tells us what has spyware. it would also be nice to know what companies distribute it...

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

  2.  

    Who would buy from them anyway?

    identicon
    Tech Support, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 9:53am

    I don't know about anyone else, but if a company puts software on my computer which slows it to a crawl and continually pops up advertisements which claim they can fix my problem, I would not even consider buying their product. Advertisements are annoying to the point which they cause me to AVOID the product, not buy it.

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

  3.  

    The Sharks Are Circling

    identicon
    Dam, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 10:50am

    Can't you hear the theme from Jaws in the background? It's because the lawyers for the adware scum are circling the waters, just waiting to sue them into the 22nd century.
    I wish them lots of luck, God knows it's needed. But watch them damn lawyers.

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

  4.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 11:07am

    Badware Vendor #1: Microsoft

    [ 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>


Pull My Finger... For Payment >>
<< In-Game Ad Market Booming
 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