Major suppliers and consumer bodies have backed the
recently launched Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), which has just
published its basic definition of spyware.
The ASC wants the industry and users to define more closely what
spyware is and help users make educated judgements as to what
should be allowed to reside on their PCs.
“One of the biggest challenges we’ve had with spyware has been
agreeing on what it is,” said Ari Schwartz, associate director of
the US Centre for Democracy and Technology, which has led ASC’s
work.
He said, “The anti-spyware community needs a way to quickly and
decisively categorise the new programs spawning at exponential
rates across the internet. The definitions will serve as a
foundation for all future efforts to help users make more informed
decisions about which programs to keep and which to delete.”
The ASC describes “spyware and other potentially unwanted
technologies” as those that “impair users’ control over material
changes that affect their user experience, privacy or system
security; use of their system resources, including what programs
are installed on their computers; or collection, use and
distribution of their personal or otherwise sensitive
information”.
The ASC has also outlined common procedures for dispute
resolution for marketers and suppliers who believe their software
has been unfairly flagged or stopped by an anti-spyware
program.
Current ASC members include AOL, Computer Associates, HP,
Lavasoft, McAfee, Microsoft, Symantec, Trend Micro, Yahoo and the
Business Software Alliance. A number of US-based consumer bodies
have also backed ASC.
ASC’s spyware definition is now out for consultation and
internet users can contribute to the debate at:
http://www.antispywarecoalition.org