spyware and other scams

[★ candygirl]

(To bad this is not being done every were)

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday to combat the criminal use of Internet spyware and other scams aimed at stealing personal information from computer users.

 

 

JIM ABRAMS

 

 

Spyware, said the bill's Democratic sponsor, Representative Zoe Lofgren, "is one of the biggest threats to consumers on the Internet." She and other legislators cited estimates that up to 90 per cent of computers in this country are infected with some forms of spyware.

 

Spyware is software that secretly collects information about a person or organization and sends it to another without the original user's consent.

 

Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte, co-sponsor of the bill, said it had been written so that it "protects consumers by imposing stiff penalties on the truly bad actors" while protecting legitimate online businesses that are developing new services to keep track of user preferences.

 

The bill would make it a criminal offence, subject to a prison term of up to five years, to gain unauthorized access to a computer to help carry out another federal offence. Obtaining or transmitting personal information with the intent of injuring or defrauding a person or damaging a computer would be punishable by up to two years in prison.

 

The measure approves US$10 million a year over the next four years to help the Justice Department fight other computer scams such as "phishing" - the use of fake e-mails or websites to trick consumers into providing bank account numbers or credit card or other personal information - and "pharming," in which hackers redirect Internet traffic to fake sites to steal personal information.

 

Similar bills have been approved by the House in past sessions of Congress but have yet to clear the U.S. Senate.

 

-On the Net:

 

Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov

[Incomplete]

I doubt that will stop it from happening though.

[★ Dav]

they do try to deal with it. Problem is people evade the law with loopholes and such. Some companies even go as far as planning the fines they will receive into their business model.

 

Problem with these things is they work.

 

Take spam for example. If everyone ignored it it wouldn't be profitable and they wouldn't do it. In reality people do click the links and people buy leading to massive profits for the spammer.

[Incomplete]

Yeah, you wont stop people clicking on spam, alot of people dont even know what spam is I dont think theres a way that can stop it from happening.

[Confess]

I dont like the fact that the government is trying to step on grounds which they have no claim to. The internet is NOT theres, and they shouldnt even so much as be doing this. There are certain things that are OK in my book (IE, Child Porn [which was already illegal]) but they are stepping on toes with this one, and it is only a matter of time before they start trying to take it over completely. (which, im sure, they'll successfully be able to moderate the internet).

[MikeTheNose]

Confess, the internet is regulated by governments. China being the biggest example.

[★ Dav]

I dont like the fact that the government is trying to step on grounds which they have no claim to. The internet is NOT theres, and they shouldnt even so much as be doing this. There are certain things that are OK in my book (IE, Child Porn [which was already illegal]) but they are stepping on toes with this one, and it is only a matter of time before they start trying to take it over completely. (which, im sure, they'll successfully be able to moderate the internet).

They do it because they think it somehow does some good in protecting people/ companies.

 

Take the US where myspace has recently been forced to give up its information on registered sex offenders to the government ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6681669.stm ), the banning of offshore gambling and constant changes in the law to favor the music industry.

 

There are many things that perhaps should be legislated, there is also a line that should not be crossed. The big problem at the moment is that the people making the laws don't understand how the very thing they are legislating works so their laws can affect peoples Internet use quite badly and tip things too far towards the music industry or something else.

 

Also its not just china censoring the Internet, a report suggests many more nations are doing it http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6665945.stm

[★ candygirl]

I get over 100++ Spyware cookies everyday and my prog deletes them all. the funny thing is my prod deletes this froum cookie thinking its Spyware. lol

[★ Dav]

perhaps its a little OTT and just deleting all cookies if it delets SSF and detects that many.

 

100 per day sounds excessive unless you are looking at some very dodgy websites.

[Gravitron]

You need to get fixed Dav.

They don't do it neither for the people nor out of belief it will do good.

They do it because someone authorized them the power to do it and because companies probably lobby them to do it.

China is a whole different story.

The Internet is, ultimately, ruled by the major IT companies that run it.

They control EVERYTHING in reality.

They can sniff your so-called "encrypted" email if they so wish and see that you've spent the last four days d/l warez off bittorrent and fapping to 4chan threads.

 

 

Eitherway, regardless...

The problem isn't legal liability, enforcement or lack there of and loopholes, it's that the majority of the PC users are ignorant bores, incompetent and uncapable of properly operation their machine, lacking basic knowledge, understanding and IT-cognitivity.

The problem is the dumb, Joe Smith, End-User who doesn't know how to protect his PC from spyware, leaving it open for assault, then infecting his other 5,000 online friends who are equally PC-re!@#$%^&*ed and from there it goes on in a geomatric rate onto their friends and so on and so forth.

THAT"S THE PROBLEM.

Combat the end-user, and all this Internet malware drama ends and the ASSS who finance this !@#$%^&* gonna go bunkrupt.

[★ Dav]

They don't do it neither for the people nor out of belief it will do good.

They do it because someone authorized them the power to do it and because companies probably lobby them to do it.

 

I wouldn't rule these out entirely, whilst that are not the only issue they are just as important as what you have highlighted.

 

If spamming/malware didn't yield a profit they wouldn't do it. After all spamming your in box with adverts for penis enlargement, Viagra and various other junk wouldn't happen if the company buying/making the software had nothing to gain. Problem is there are people who click that link and buy it, whilst it may be a vast minority its enough to yeild a reasonable profit and in a commercial world profit is everything.

 

Also if the law was tight enough to track and shut these people down with hefty fines they would stop and find new ways to market their products that do not involve a guaranteed court case which will wipe their company out and bankrupt them.

 

Also, as you highlight, is users X and Y knew how to protect their computers and in boxes like user their spamming / malware would be useless and it would end.

 

I am not entirely sure the software / Internet companies rule the web, whilst they have some control they cant stop everything. Just look at the recent Digg.com issue with the HD-DVD crack code.

[Gravitron]

Actually, I was talking about governments, but good point also.

Spammers themselves only do it because !@#$%^&*er advertising companies buy spam lists from them and pay good money for it.

 

You have to assume that someone cares sufficiently to stop something, as well as having the access power to the means of stopping it, in addition to having locally hashing it having a permanent global effect of restraint.

If, say, you pissed someone at Level3 Communications, and he wants you off the grid, and he's like top exec member of the board, then he most certainly can shut you down.

Or at the very least, cripple your Internet so badly it'll look like you're having severe technical glitches.

Worse yet, go completely covert on your !@#$%^&* and start filtering your traffic personally and taking you out of the net-neutrality frame.

They can do that, if they have a reason to.

[★ candygirl]

perhaps its a little OTT and just deleting all cookies if it delets SSF and detects that many.

 

100 per day sounds excessive unless you are looking at some very dodgy websites.

 

 

no myspace is bad for it

[🜲 Samapico]

Change your browser cookie settings (IE: Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> cookies... set them to 'ask' ... setting is pretty much the same in firefox)

[★ Dav]

Sorry about the bump but this peice of todays news is 100% relevant to this topic.

 

A man nicknamed the "spam king" for allegedly sending out millions of junk e-mails has been arrested in the US.

 

The full article is here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6707333.stm

 

This could have a big impact as once once case goes through like this others are likely to follow.

[Incomplete]

!@#$%^&*, 65 years!? That's a !@#$%^&* of a long time. It's good to see something is finally being done about this though. I can guarentee when I go into inbox theres giong to be a load of spam emails in my junk folder.

[Choose Profile]

lol Dav I read a similair article, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070531/ap_on_hi_te/spam_arrest and then i find this thread on forums Very cool stuff, i hope he gets death by lethal injection. One of my neighbors' sisters' husband works as a spammer and Im told he can make over 200k a year.

 

Watch next time we check our email we will all have "Spammer gets arrested" spam in our inboxes

[Hakaku]

lol Dav I read a similair article, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070531/ap_on_hi_te/spam_arrest and then i find this thread on forums Very cool stuff, i hope he gets death by lethal injection. One of my neighbors' sisters' husband works as a spammer and Im told he can make over 200k a year.

 

Watch next time we check our email we will all have "Spammer gets arrested" spam in our inboxes

What an aweful thing to hope for.

[★ Maverick]

Maybe they can put a piece of paper in his cell for each e-mail he send although he might not survive