Has some sleazy web site taken over your browser? Are you getting pop up ads even when your browser has been closed for sometime? You may be the victim of spyware!.
Spyware can be broken down into two different categories; surveillance spyware and advertising spyware.
Surveillance software includes key loggers, screen capture devices, and Trojans. Corporations, private detectives, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, suspicious spouses, etc would use these.
Advertising spyware is software that is installed alongside software or via activex controls on the internet, often without the users knowledge, or without full disclosure that it would be used for gathering personal information and showing the user ads. Advertising spyware logs information about the user, possibly including passwords, e-mail addresses, web browsing history, online buying habits, the computers hardware and software configuration, the name, age, sex, etc of the user. .
As with spam, advertising spyware uses CPU, RAM and resources of the users computer, making the user pay the costs associated with operating it. It then makes use of the users bandwidth to connect to the internet and upload whatever personal information it has gathered, and to download advertisements which it will present to the user either by pop up windows or with ad banners. All of this can be considered theft in the cases of advertising spyware that installs without disclosure. .
My objection to spyware is not just loss of privacy. That's bad enough. What is also repulsive are the methods these companies use to present users with their ads. They make pop-up ads latch onto Internet Explorer browsers like leeches to force the start and search pages to their "partner sites". Often these ads are pornographic and make no allowances for underage users who may be using the computer.
I think such methods of generating revenue are disgusting. The spyware companies treat users like livestock to be branded with tracking devices and monitored as they conduct business.
Spyware is typically defined as Advertising Supported Software (Adware). ... Some of them are: What are the most common types of spyware? ... Are there illegal versions of spyware out there? How can I prevent the use of spyware on my machine? ... Another type of spyware is not a marketing tool. ...
The SpyWare War Spyware generally refers to "software whose purpose is to collect demographic and usage information from your computer," normally for advertising. ... Some spyware sends only system-specific information; other spyware sends personal information including browsing habits." ... Uninstalling the applications that include the Aureate spyware often does not remove the spyware itself. ... Spyware has an infinite number of uses. ... As a result, few people argue against this form of spyware. ...
Human rights activists debate the fact that the government's use of Spyware is excessive and goes against the right to privacy. ... Spyware by the name of "Real Time Spy" is capable of monitoring subjects as they are online, which is known as real-time spyware, and then there is also spyware that allows the user to monitor all e-mail traffic on the subject's machine , which is known as "WebMail Spy". ... Not all government spying is done with intricate Spyware programs though. ... But then again, newer laws, if correctly phrased could prevent a great deal more of spying and could p...
Spyware is not the best way to go about monitoring your children. ... Nothing is concrete, which is also why using a spyware program is not beneficial. ... With all these negative reasons of why spyware is bad, there must be at least one positive reason. ... Invading your teen's privacy with the use of spyware is not a good way to monitor them. ... However, there are still more negatives to using spyware, and thus it shouldn't be used....
Privacy has all but become a thing of the past. With advancements in surveillance technology, internet "spyware," and dozens of other inventions, the privacy Americans once held dear is becoming less and less abundant. More and more, our society is becoming much like that pictured in George Orwell'...
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