I spy with my little eye some spyware on a lawyer’s PC. Not a good move according to New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer who is suing Internet marketer, Intermix for placing spyware on millions of PC’s including 3.7 million downloads on New Yorker’s PC’s alone.
According to an article in Yahoo! News, “Spitzer’s civil suit accuses Intermix of violating state General Business Law provisions against false advertising and deceptive business practices. He also accuses them of trespass under New York common law.” Spitzer also says, “Spyware and adware are more than an annoyance. These fraudulent programs foul machines, undermine productivity and in many cases frustrate consumers’ efforts to remove them from their computers. These issues can serve to be a hindrance to the growth of e-commerce.”
Many PC repair shops are blaming spyware for half of their repairs since machines with spyware tend to run slower and have a more difficult time rebooting. Most users don’t realize that spyware has been downloaded to their machines and even if they do they cannot uninstall the spyware with the typical Windows uninstall feature through the Control Panel.
Finally, it seems that people are getting tired of the intrusiveness of some others on the Internet. Spammers are recently getting held liable in court cases across the country and now spyware manufactures are starting to be sued for monetary damages as well. Its not the Wild, Wild West on the Internet anymore. A little law is in order.
