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Spyware Notification Bill Introduced

Posted by michael on from the click-here-to-give-up-first-born-son dept.

cheinonen writes "According to this article at News.com, Rep. Mary Bono has introduced a bill that would require software manufacturers to notify you if they plan to install spyware on your machine. I might not be a legal genius, but won't they just get around this by noting this in the EULA, which many people already do, since you're supposedly required to read and agree to that anyway? Will this bill do anything at all?"

25 comments

  1. Legit by yasth · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It will mean that spyware can now be described as a legal regulated industry which will mean companies will be more likely to use it.

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    1. Re:Legit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup. Plop it in the EULA. Make it as "conspicuous"ly large as the law dictates, but place it at the bottom of the EULA that "everyone is supposed to read". It'll get read by everyone, right?

      1. CYA with purchased legislation full of loopholes to give legitimacy.
      2. Install spyware on the machines of all M$-0wN3d sheep.
      3. ?
      4. Profit!

  2. The Benefit would be... by gartogg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That if it's a self installer, and It dpesn't com packaged with another application, It would need to pop up a Window. This in itself would slow the spywear installation trend.

    And no-one would mind a lawsuit for no-compliance... except the bastards who are trying to invade our computers in the first place.

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  3. big surprise. by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let me guess, the bill will have no teeth, and yeat the senator comes off looking like someone whos doing a good thing. Smoke and mirrors, the foundations of current politics

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  4. "conspicuous location" by ClosedSource · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the article:

    "The bill would require companies to post an agreement in a conspicuous location telling computer users that spyware is being installed."

    I doubt that the burying it in the EULA would qualify as "conspicuous", but the devil is in the details of the bill.

    1. Re:"conspicuous location" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's almost as if the person who sent in the article didn't even read it. What a low road we travel.

  5. See: Tobacco and Alcohol labeling. by jfisherwa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If they made it similar to the Surgeon General's Warning on tobacco and alcohol products, whereby the company basically gets to choose from a number of straightforward preset messages that must be displayed as prominently as the company logo and be at least %n as large, I think we could have a winnner.

    WARNING: This software includes "spyware," which when installed will grant us access to track all of your web viewing habits.

    1. Re:See: Tobacco and Alcohol labeling. by pompousjerk · · Score: 1

      Cigarette companies design their warning labels to look loud and bold while at the same time reducing the readability of the warning. (Heavy border surrounding underlined letters brings out white space, while all-caps sans-serif letters are very similar and therefore difficult to read.)

      Ref: either Envisioning Information or Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte. (Neither of which I have on hand right now.)

    2. Re:See: Tobacco and Alcohol labeling. by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      yeah, well, too bad spyware is mostly problem with programs that are distributed 'free' on the internet so that would have to be a part of the installer.

      but yeah, a fine black big text: "DO YOU WANT TO USE OUR SO CALLED MARKETING RESEARCH TOOL THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PROGRAM WE ARE OFFERING YOU, AND VERY LIKELY DOESN'T UNINSTALL WHEN YOU UNINSTALL THIS PROGRAM" with yes/no on it. though, people usually install these programs anyways because they want to check them out, though with spyware you are f*****d straight away, who knows you might think that the program is so good that you can live with the spyware just to use it but it's impossible to check that out without subjecting to it(if you don't take the possibility of removing the spyware).

      another problem of course is dataminers and such that install without your knoweledge from websites or embedded web browsers in some other progs(that display ads for example), for these a simple yes/no would do wonders.

      some time ago they made it a rule around here that the manufacturer has to use some percentage of the tobacco box for messages like 'tobacco kills'(doesn't depend on the logo size..), the % is somewhere around 25%. i think it would be a good idea to have some percantage around that on adverts that advert products that have spyware, ie. a banner would have the normal advert + 'spyware invades your privacy','we like to know what you do' and things like that. though it sounds so silly i don't think it's likely to happen.

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  6. More informed users, less Kazaa? by s4f · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Didn't the act that created virtual perpetual copyright come from Mary Bono? (Or Sonny get that one done before he became one with that tree?)

    In any case, what's the most popular SpyWare? Kazaa?

    Who's the favorite whipping boy of the "copyright industry?", Kazaa?

    Who derives most of their profits from SpyWare? Kazaa?

    Who would be most inconvenienced by a law that forced them to tell their customers that they're installing SpyWare? Kazaa?

    Who among the the average userbase would choose to install SpyWare on their systems if it was made plainly obvious to them that it was happening? I'd say less than do now.

    Less users, less profit, less Kazaa to annoy "Big Media."

    1. Re:More informed users, less Kazaa? by acceleriter · · Score: 1

      Nope, that was Sonny, who, as you note, is thankfully dead.

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      CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

    2. Re:More informed users, less Kazaa? by ravenlock · · Score: 1

      More informed users would probably just become more users that switched from Kazaa to dc/freenet/what ever. But then again, that's less visible than Kazaa is, so you might have a point.

  7. Shift of burden. by secolactico · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Will this bill do anything at all?

    Why, yes of course. It will shift the burden of responsibility to the user. Just like cigarettes warnings. You can no longer use ignorance as an excuse. If you didn't read the terms of the agreement/warning label, it would be your fault.

    Also, spyware would become "legal" since it's regulated (as a previous post said) making developers less shy of them.

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  8. My addition to the bill / $0.02 by LordOfYourPants · · Score: 1

    1) If the installer is text based, the terminal screen must be cleared and a message in all capitals saying "THE PROGRAM YOU ARE ABOUT TO INSTALL CONTAINS SPYWARE. PRESS Y TO CONTINUE, N TO ABORT, OR D FOR DETAILS OF THE SPYWARE." before ANY installation takes place.

    2) If the installer is GUI based, a dialog box that is completely viewable on the screen (ie: not stuffed one pixel in the corner) displaying a 40+ point font with the same message as above appears. Instead of the Y/N/D you have 3 buttons indicating the same. Details can bring down a text box with the details. This takes place before any EULA happens or the filesystem/registry is altered in any way.

    How hard would it be to word it like this? IANAL in the least.

    1. Re:My addition to the bill / $0.02 by PurpleBob · · Score: 1

      You're being far too specific. What if you're installing software on, say, a PalmPilot? Where two or three 40-point characters will fill up the screen? Legislating an interface is stupid.

      --
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  9. Bono's Campaign contributions by sirmikester · · Score: 3, Informative

    According to her campaign contributors in 2002, no software corporations have any vested interest in her. I think is a good thing that she's doing something for the consumers for once instead of for the companies/people that support her. On the other hand... SBC did donate quite a bit, maybe she's just trying to cut down their bandwidth costs by cutting down on all of the spyware thats used...

    --
    In linux libertas
  10. re: will this bill do anything at all? by nunya_biznez · · Score: 1

    Of course it will. 'riders' are always looking for bills to piggy-back on. This one is so brain-dead that I'm almost certain that it would have quite a few riders trying to get passed with this one.

  11. It's pointless by shamino0 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Such a law is pointless.

    So now they have to inform you. So you'll get a dialog saying "We are installing spyware. Click here to install it or here to abort this installation". Do you seriously think they'll give you the option of installing the program without the spyware?

    It's just like those draconian EULA terms on Microsoft's security updates. If you don't agree to the terms, then the installer doesn't run and you have a computer with known security holes in it.

  12. Actually, that's a great idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Make the law require them to give you an option to install without spyware. If it kills the spyware business, oh well.

    1. Re:Actually, that's a great idea by Metasquares · · Score: 1

      That's the equivalent of requiring TVs to have an option that disables commercials. Software developers make their money from deals with the spyware companies. Yes, it's the developer's fault for making a deal with a spyware company in the first place, but you can't just mandate them to give their software away for free without any possibility of compensation against their will. What would likely happen if software is forced to install without spyware components is that the developers would begin charging for previously free software.

    2. Re:Actually, that's a great idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TV ads don't take over ads during other shows, or send information about me to the broadcaster. Spyware != normal advertising.

  13. spyware on business computers by awerg · · Score: 1

    I have instituted a policy of all the computers on my project to be secured from virii and spyware. We use Spybot from security.kolla.de. Get the Main Appor the updated tools or the updates and are on this mirror.

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    -- Andy
  14. She's in this for the RIAA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    She's big into whoring for the RIAA and other IP/Copyright issues. The deal here is that this bill could serve to financially weaken groups like Kazaa/Grokster as people begin to reject them when they see spyware in the install. It's just a way to serve her RIAA masters.

  15. Sounds good to me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why all the cynicism about whether people read EULAs? Sure, it takes some effort to scan through and comprehend the terms of a contract, but it's something we all should do. I just bought a house, and I was astonished how many of my friends said "you'll never be able to read through all those documents and know what's going on. Just trust the title officer."

    Well, I did read through it, and it took some time and effort, but it will pay off for years to come - because I actually have an understanding of WHAT I AGREED TO.

    If a EULA (or any other contract) is poorly written and difficult to comprehend, that's cause for concern. But if it's just a bit longer than you'd like, quit whining and start reading. Not getting shafted STARTS by paying attention to what you're agreeing to.

  16. -1 Strawman by alexo · · Score: 1

    > So now they have to inform you. So you'll get a dialog saying "We are installing spyware. Click here to install it or here to abort this installation". Do you seriously think they'll give you the option of installing the program without the spyware?

    The real benefit from such law is that it will help rid us of "spyware for the sake of spyware" programs like Gator, etc.

    You know, all those ActiveX thingies that pop up and ask permission to be installed on your machine in order to synch your clock or "enhance your browsing experience".

    I wonder whether tracking cookies will be included.