| Spyware is software that collects personal
information from you without first letting you know
what it's doing and without letting you decide
whether this is OK or not. The information spyware
collects can range from all the Web sites you visit
to more sensitive information like usernames and
passwords. You might be the target of spyware if you
download music from file-sharing programs, free
games from sites you don't trust, or other software
programs from an unknown source.
Spyware is often associated with software that
displays advertisements, called adware. Some
advertisers may covertly install adware on your
system and generate a stream of unsolicited
advertisements that can clutter your desktop and
affect your productivity. The advertisements may
also contain pornographic or other material that you
might find inappropriate. The extra processing
required to track you or to display advertisements
can tax your computer and hurt your system
performance.
This is not to say that all software which
provides ads or tracks your online activities is
bad. If you sign up for a free music service and in
return for that free service the company offers you
targeted advertisements, it might be a fair
tradeoff. Likewise, tracking online activities can
be useful when displaying customized search content
or personalized preferences at an online retailer.
The key is whether or not you (or another user of
your computer) have been properly notified of what
the software will do and that you have provided
consent to have that software installed on your
computer. In other words, is the software being
deceptive in what it does or how it gets onto your
computer? |
