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The Battle Against Junk Mail and Spyware
wildfrontiersman writes "A New York Times editorial by Brent Staples, The Battle Against Junk Mail and Spyware on the Web, laments 'The story of technology is the story of noble aspirations overtaken by a hard-core huckster reality. This process is on vivid display in the debate about electronic junk mail, which makes up more than half of all the e-mail that travels on the Internet.' He criticizes the new spam law, the lack of attention to spyware and how it threatens our beloved internet."
The new spam law does nothing about the invisible programs that invade our computers as we move from one Web site to the next. These insidious programs -- variously known as adware, spyware and snoopware -- can cause computers to call up aggressive ads or can actually track a user's movements through the Internet for use by marketers later on. The most sinister programs can record everything the user does, whether offline or surfing the Net.
And what the article does not discuss at any length is that we have Microsoft security (or lack thereof) to blame for most of the spyware problems. If Windows had better security, then most of these problems would not be there to the same degree as they currently are.
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I was visiting my parents when they got their Dell and out of the box it required over 20Mb of security fixes and had a virus scanner (Mcafee) that was set to explode after 90 days if they didn't subscribe and the firewall off by default. Oh and of course their account that they setup with the instructions made them an administrator. We got that patched up and hardened quickly but your average Joe who buys a system and plugs it in is just a sitting duck and he has no clue. It's pathetic that companies like Dell can't harden the things a little before shipping them out.
Even though spyware may be annoying, it's the price that must be paid to allow for a more user-friendly computer.
Care to justify that stance?
When visiting someone who asks me to help them with some computer-related task, as my very first action I download and run AdAware. It usually find at least 30-40 scattered chunks of spyware (I've seen in the thousands more than once), with perhaps half a dozen actual fully-functioning programs (the abundance of spyware has the amusingly ironic side effect that they all tend to break one another over time).
After removing all the spyware found, the computer's owner without fail notices the improved responsiveness and reduced desktop and browser clutter. I have not once had someone then ask me annoyedly where their "favorite" browser hijack vanished to; more often, I get a thankful "Oh, you finally got rid of that damn thing... I agreed to it from some website a few months ago, and no matter what I do couldn't make it go away".
So, what part of any of the above do you believe makes a computer more user-friendly?
From article:
The story of technology is the story of noble aspirations overtaken by a hard-core huckster reality.
I think that's a little too narrow of a generalization to make about all of technology. But it is a symptom of a larger truth about technology. The story of technology is the story of technical progress outpacing social progress. We have not, as a society, come to a consesus on privacy, security, information as property, and who should regulate these matters. Similar, perhaps tougher, problems in biotech. This characteristic of technology driving questions about social morality is something I don't think was ever seen before the 20th century.
I assume that spam is one of the last places where people believe that an ad driven business model will survive. In most other forms of media, it seems that advertising has had its day.
What world are you living in? In the one that I inhabit, advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry. All of that brain sapping drivel pushed out on network television every night creates a captive audience to push sodas, alcohol, cars, and everything else that makes the (Western) world go round.
The fact that you and your friends use Tivo or listen to internet radio stations is only slightly more important than the fact that you use Linux at home. The rest of the world still uses M$ products and buys things because a commercial told them it will get them more pu$$y.
As for e-mail advertising, this is the latest (not even latest, but relatively recent) intrusion of advertising into communications mediums. Until people are willing to PAY for things (e.g. HBO) instead of being cheap greedy hypocrites, advertising will continue to infiltrate all communication and entertainment mediums.
Even when people are willing to pay for things, the advertisements will become more subtle and embedded, with product placements as perfectly nailed in the movie The Truman Show.
And the reason advertising continues to happen in e-mail is that the costs to advertise are getting less and less to the point that now if 1/10000 people buys Herbal Viagra or whatever crap is being sold, then it becomes worthwhile. So good luck convincing 100% of the people to stop buying stuff. Let's come up with realistic solutions.