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U.S. To Impose Spyware Control Laws

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the every-click-you-make dept.

ArbiterOne writes "BBC has the story: A bill has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives to control the proliferation of spyware and malware. The proposed bill would force programs to inform the user before installing programs, and require that spyware be easily removed. A study by EarthLink found that the average user has 28 spyware programs on their computer!"

1 of 402 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why use legislation? by fmaxwell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is legislation necessary here? this is a problem that could be solved with just a little technical nous.

    Fine. You go to 290 million people in the U.S. and educate them -- every man, woman, and child -- on how to deal-with, avoid, and remove spyware. God knows that learning about sypware should be the key goal in everyone's life. The guy investigating prostate cancer online after bad news from his doctor? He should stop what he's doing and take lessons from you about spyware.

    Next, we can get rid of laws prohibiting muggings and just teach everyone self-defense. We can make identity theft legal and just teach people how to prevent it.

    Everyone should not have to know about everything just to avoid being victimized.