Tuesday, May 31, 2005

House votes to outlaw spyware

From Reuters:

"Consumers have a right to know and have a right to decide who has access to their highly personal information that spyware can collect," said California Republican Rep. Mary Bono, who sponsored one of the bills.
The bills prohibit a number of practices often associated with spyware, such as reprograming the start page on a user's Web browser, logging keystrokes to capture passwords and other sensitive data, or launching pop-up ads that can't be closed without shutting down the computer.
The practice known as "phishing" -- in which scam artists pose as banks or other businesses in an attempt to trick consumers into divulging account information --would also be outlawed. "

Hard to enforce, but certainly a good first step. Spyware sucks up way too much of my day, and the security issues raised by phishing, which combines the two hardest to police vulerabilities, users and the web, into one nasty little package is an especial headache.

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