Spyware Coming Under Scrutiny

trick-knee writes "Nytimes.com has an article considering the ethics of snoopware. In it, TrueActive is given positive press for removing a 'feature called "silent deploy", which allows the buyer to place the program on someone else's computer secretly via e-mail, without having physical access to the machine', although little criticism is made for making the stuff in the first place. Supposedly, Symantec and Network Associates have added features to their antivirus programs that detect snoopware, which may be a good thing. One surprising point you may be shocked to hear is that 'at least one program... may not pose a real threat of spying, at least. Mr. Gordon said that his company's security researchers, working with the Justice Department, were unable to find any actual working software that could be downloaded from the LoverSpy site after paying the fee. He seemed less than stunned by the notion that a product advertised via spam might not be all that it was claimed to be.'"

Comments

Not about Spyware.

[hanssprudel]

This isn't about spyware (the first paragraph says so), but about programs that completely monitor users, and that to my knowledge are not bundled with freeware downloads.

These programs are simply trojans, nothing else. It's just BackOrifice or Netbus for the less technically inclined, and maybe without the remote control features.

Ethics

[ericspinder]

Yes, spyware has some tricky ethics.
Not that it really applies to my situation of course, but has it been legally decided that spyware logs from a family computer is admissible in court?
How is it different from normal archives like web history lists, cookies, or logs of chat rooms(or IM).

Is it a type of log or a wire tap. I see a wire tap as intercepting communication between two devices, but what is the device, the computer or the program running on the computer.

Many chat programs have features to capture messages to an internal log. Is it legal to turn it on, without informing the other party or anyone involved in the conversations (if you are doing it to spy on a chat-addicted mate)?