Outlawing Spyware

[MadMax]

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115527,00.asp

Utah regulates surveillance software while several states and Congress also consider restrictions.

Tom Spring, PC World
Friday, April 02, 2004
Utah has become the first state to make spyware a crime, passing a law that makes it illegal to install such programs on a PC without approval.

Starting in early May, violators face a fine of $10,000 per incident, under the new Spyware Control Act. The Utah law aims to regulate the use of spyware and other advertising software, which is infamous for annoying computer users by tracking and reporting their Web whereabouts and displaying ads.

A software company that wants to load a surveillance program onto a Utah user's PC must make full disclosure, under the law. It must reveal what user behavior its software records, what information goes back to a central server, how often ads will appear, and how the ads look. Vendors must also clearly state the purpose of the downloaded software and any changes it makes to a PC's system.............

[hasmudge]

Its time it was passed worldwide, similarly, hackers virus writers etc etc, should be treat like burglars and jailed, they're a menace. I can't imagine what passes for thought among these people. H

[Redfallon]

WOW that's a high bar....not a bad idea and it's really needed, but I don't see that being implemented on a large scale for quite some time...

[patrickt]

I assume the law is pretty good since I read this morning that WhenU has already filed a lawsuit to stop it from taking effect.

[Jaggannath]

LOL Yup I was about to say that patrickt
And I agree with hasmudge... it's ridiculous, these nefarious/malicious hackers deserve to be smoked for what they do

[ghost2003]

Well, with the kind of people who do that I doubt many of them will stop caus of the law.

[babylon5guy]

This will be about as effective as stopping the free music download sites. They may (but I doubt it) stop it in this country, but they just do it off shore or in other countries. There are many countries that would allow it just to stick it to us. Companies in this country would still pay for the info they gathered.
IMHO