Congressional Spyware Scam

[KingCobra]

Quote:

And the purveyors of truly malicious code like keyloggers will be untouched. Phishers, hackers, and trojan writers don't worry much about the law. And in the event that they're caught, how do representatives plan to squeeze multimillion-dollar fines out of pimply, Dubuque script kiddies or Ukrainian hacker rings?

They don't, because this is all a show, designed to convince Ma and Pa Kettle that the government can protect them from the big bad digital bogeymen. Even the Federal Trade Commission, which would be charged with enforcing this would-be law, says it is unnecessary. (Need we mention that there are good, free programs out there that can keep your machine safe?) But just watch. This bill will pass anyway, and it will play well back on Main Street. And you and I will pay the price.

Code:

http://www.fool.com/news/mft/2004/mft04061809.htm?source=eptyholnk303100&logvisit=y&npu=y&bounce=y&bounce2=y

FYI - The top three anti spyware programs they mention are the three I currently use. If you only wish to install one, install AdAware because they have updates more often than the others.

[Zone-MR]

The story lost me after the first sentance:

Quote:

And the purveyors of truly malicious code like keyloggers will be untouched

WTF? Since when can a keylogger be described as truly malicious code? Does that make the GetAsyncKeyState API call in Windows pure evil too?

A keylogger is just that. A program which calls an API and records keystrokes. There is NOTHING malicious about the concept, unless it is (mis)used for illegitimate purposes. Going after the coders would be insane.

Also is the story suggesting going after "trojan writers"? WTF. Any legitimate remote administration tool becomes a so-called trojan horse when people mislead 'victims', making them execute it under the premise that the application will be helpful to them. Going after "trojan writers" would mean going after people who write remote administration tools. I wonder what the writer of the story was smoking that day.