Spyware generally refers to "software whose purpose is to collect demographic and usage information from your computer," normally for advertising. However, spyware is merely internet jargon, and it can refer to many different things including what some describe as "Backdoor Trojan Horses that allow hackers to secretly gain information from computer[s]. The type of gathered information differs depending on the spyware. Some spyware sends only system-specific information; other spyware sends personal information including browsing habits." The main issue is that most users haven't the faintest idea that their computer is infected with spyware applications. This paper will discuss how spyware is distributed, what it's purpose is, whether or not it is legal, and it will explore both points of view on weather or not it should be outlawed.
Spyware usually finds its way onto a computer by being "piggybacked" by a shareware application. "Piggybacking is where spyware, knowingly or unknowingly, is installed along with a real program. For example, users of the popular file-swapping program Kazaa must also install Cydoor, an adware program. Some spyware programs even stay resident on a user's computer after the host program has been uninstalled. Radiate/Aureate Media developed an adware program that was packaged with popular utility programs such as Go!Zilla and CuteFTP. Uninstalling the applications that include the Aureate spyware often does not remove the spyware itself. Once you have it, you have it forever." .
Spyware has an infinite number of uses. These programs can do anything from enforce copyright protection to perform extreme privacy law violations which could potentially aid in identity theft. Copy right protection, which is on the less intrusive side of the spectrum, can be rather helpful. "Intuit, the company that produces the popular tax program TurboTax, uses a program called Macrovision Safecast for the current version of TurboTax.
