Judge Halts Utah's Spyware Law

TheFarmerInTheDell writes "According to CNet News, a judge in Utah has granted an injunction to WhenU.com to temporarily halt the state's new anti-spyware law from going into effect. WhenU filed suit in April asking for an injunction, and this judge has decided that their claim of abridging their First Amendment Rights has enough merit to issue the injunction. What about our rights not to have to deal with this scumware?" (This previous post mentions Ben Edelman's research on WhenU and other spyware makers' activities.)

Comments

Re:Free speech?

[ukalum]

Their right to put software on your computer will last a lot longer than your rights as a private citizen as long as they spend more money on political parties than you do.

Free speech? What about property rights

[nebaz]

By putting spyware on the computer, they are in effect breaking and entering into your property. This is NOT a free speech issue, any more than someone spray painting on the side of your house is free speech. It is tresspassing.

Umm...

[Anonymous Coward]

In response to:

What about our rights not to have to deal with this scumware?

I am not sure we have any such right really. Privacy is not a consitutional right. Laws have been passed to protect our privacy in certain situations and that is good. But there is nothing that makes our privacy an irrevocable right that would extend beyond what has been legislated. Utah did the right thing by passing this law since it strengthens individual privacy. The courts however should hear the case if free speech is at stake, which I doubt it is since most spyware doesn't talk to you or express itself cause that would reveal that it was there. So I think the legality issues need to play out, but I think we should all watch our tone since ignorance is a dangerous thing...

Re:Umm...

[nightsweat]

Actually the courts have ruled in the past the 9th and 10th Amendment contain a right to privacy

Amendment IX:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Great more money for me!

[nlinecomputers]

I service PCs for a living and this spyware shit is really paying the bills. It's great that I get more work but you feel dirty like you are having to work on a sewer line.

I'm glad I have the work but also dislike having the need to do the work. I think alot of people of turning away from the internet because of all this spyware crap.

What ever happened to justice?

[FictionPimp]

I guess they wont mind if I put some buggy software on their systems then?

But seriously, why can't they be sued for cybercrime? If installing software without permission is perfectly legal, I have some keylogging software I would like to put on my banks PC's. I wouldn't argue privacy, I would argue the fact that they are putting software on your computer without your knowledge, that may cause problems in your system critical applications such as porn.

First Amendment Rights?

[David H]

Why do companies have rights the same as people have rights? It seems odd to me that companies aren't punished like people, but they want to be treated like people. I personally would love to see a corporate death sentence. If your products kill people and someone in the company knew it, the company should be instantly disolved.

Personally, I think the US needs a corporate bill of rights, and those rights need to be seriously limited compared to my rights. Any first amendment rights should end where personal irritation begins.

A matter of security

[thewiz]

IMHO, I believe the U.S. Government needs to get involved with shutting down these spy- and mal-ware companies due to National Security. Having worked as a contractor in military facilities, every Windows-based system attached to the internet I've worked on in those facilities, has been loaded with spy-ware. And I'm not talking about military-sanctioned keystroke loggers and system management tools.

I've never been comfortable working with unclassified (but potentially sensitive) data on a system that I know has spy-ware on it. It wouldn't be difficult for someone to collect sensitive data from those machines with spy- or mal-ware. A little side note here: it's possible to use information from unclassified documents to determine classified information.

Regardless of whether the system is military, government, or your own personal PC, I see spy- and mal-ware as a form of trespassing. Someone sneaking software onto your PC is no different than someone breaking into your house and stealing your drivers license, social security card, and other personal information. What these companies do has nothing to do with free speech.

Hacking is free speech, too.

[gusanofeliz]

Has anyone done any reverse engineering of any of this spyware stuff? I mean, I would love to run a program that spoke gator.com's protocols and connected to their servers, reported endless amounts of bogus data to pollute and help render worthless all of their covertly gathered data that they value so much. Seems that this could be the only way to fight back.

How bout third amendment?

[thecorndogofdoom]

How about third amendment? Right against unreasonable search and seizure...normally applicable to physical search by the police...but what about "seizure" of personal information without permission...that's theft. Utah judges are bullshit. I know the 3rd amendment is intended for the government, but maybe it ought to be considered extensible in this circumstance? Actually, I'm surprised no-one has brought up harassment either (that I've heard of thus far).

Unfair!

[mixmasterjake]

Hey, I never clicked on any license agreement. None of the warez that I downloaded even had one. The other day, this crack I ran had a spyware attached to it. I never clicked "agree" to anything. That's totally unfair!