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Gator "Adware", Not "Spyware"

posted by scubacuda on Thursday October 23, @10:20AM
from the (insert-expletive)ware dept.

/. and and news.com: Gator has launched a legal offensive on those who call it "spyware." In response to a libel lawsuit, PC Pitstop, an antispyware company, has settled with Gator and pulled Web pages critical of Gator's practices and software. (How do GrepLaw readers distinguish between "adware" and "spyware"?)

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Gator "Adware", Not "Spyware" | Login/Create an Account | Top | 3 comments | Search Discussion

The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

It is Spyware (Score:1)

by TomWiles on Thursday October 23, @05:07PM (#1339)
User #396 Info

My Definition:

Any program that transfers information from your computer to someware else on the internet without telling you exactly what is being transfered and giving you the option to abort the transfer of data is spyware.

It is as simple as that.

Tom

Re:It is Spyware (Score:0)

by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 23, @06:55PM (#1340)

If a program serves up ads it is adware. If it gathers information about any of your information or surfing activities and then transmits that information to someone else, without the knowledge and basic understanding of the user, it is spyware. There are lots of programs that would gather up info, and many of those would transmit the info to someone else. A legitimate program by a reputable company would give a reasonable amount of info to the user to understand it's basic use. Gator provides misleading information to marks...errrr, users that is, in order to trick....I mean get them to install their program. There are plenty of people that care so little about their system performance or personal information that they would still allow the program to be installed if Gator were blunt about all the activities of their program. But, they feel necessary to trick little old ladies and 13 year old girls into installing their programs and that makes it spyware. If Gator doesn't like that term then let's call it a trojan instead. It gets installed most often unintentionally, often without a user realizing what they have done. It's difficult to get rid of. It gives semi-unknown entities access to your computer (at least to some extent). And, it even causes decreased performance on the users system. I think trojan applies pretty well. Maybe we should just call it mal-ware, any semi-malicious program or program that is installed without the installed without the knowledge or basic understanding of the user.

Antisoftware and Scumware (Score:1)

by Frater 219 on Friday October 24, @12:34PM (#1341)
User #809 Info

A while ago, I came up with the term antisoftware to refer to software that undermines a computer owner's control or rights over his own computer:

antisoftware n. Software written so as to restrict or harm its user, rather than to empower or assist him or her. The proper function of software is to work for its user: a word processor enables the editing of documents; a database enables the structured storage of facts; a chat or email system enables communication.
Classes of programs which restrict or harm the user -- in other words, to do the opposite of what is expected from software -- include Digital Rights Denial, spyware, Trojan horses, and "license managers". Much antisoftware can be identified by the user being compelled to run it, or held in ignorance of its running -- s/he would not run it by informed willing choice.

Other possible words in the category might include usurper software and scumware.

I might draw some distinctions:

Usurper software is software that, without the knowing intention of the user, seizes control over an existing software process. For instance, a program which pops up banner ads is not usurper software (since it does not seize control of an existing software process) but one which redirects search-engine requests to a competing search engine is. Likewise, antivirus software which intercepts file accesses is not usurper software, since the user knowingly and intentionally installs it for that purpose.

Scumware is software that attempts to take money or other value from the user without the user's knowing intention. Porn dialers, which attempt to cause the user's computer to dial high-priced long-distance numbers, are scumware. Likewise, a program which installs a background process to run computationally intensive "number crunching" for the program creator's profit, without the user knowingly intending to install it, is scumware -- the increased CPU load runs up the user's electric bill.

Note that above I use the criterion of knowing intention rather than passive consent. Because a personal computer acts in many ways as an agent for the user, it is not sufficient that the user passively consent to unsolicited alterations of its behavior.

Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition. - Isaac Asimov