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Given Up to Spyware?

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the unset-passwords-and-publicly-writable-shares dept.

Khuffie writes "Wired has an interesting article about how some people have given up to spyware, knowing that the software they're installing virtually takes over their internet connection. What's even more ironic is that they claim it's a necessary evil for free software, when things like the Google Toolbar virtually replace Gator, and there are many spyware-free P2P programs available."

4 of 733 comments (clear)

  1. I've given up to Slashdot english by nysus · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You can't escape it. Just have to learn to keep your mouth shut and live with it, right?

    --

    ---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.

  2. Let's get these out of the way then: by calculadoru · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    1. In Soviet Russia, spyware uninstalls you!
    2. In Korea, only old people install spyware!
    3. I for one would like to welcome our spyware overlords. Really.
    4. Natalie Portman spyware good, SCO spyware bad.
    5. Micro$oft sucks, Netcraft confirms it.

    Feel free to add whatever /. cliches I might be forgetting, so we can get them all in one post, mod them up, have everyone read them, and then maybe they'll RTFA for once. Which, by the way, isn't half bad.

    --
    The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. -- G.B. Shaw
  3. Mac OS X? by uberdave · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Is MacOS X available for PCs now, or is it still only for Apple hardware?

    --
    "I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
  4. Is this still Slashdot? by petecarlson · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    After I saw this.

    "I wonder if people have simply given up any notion of privacy," said Budapest-based security consultant Yanos Kovas. "In Hungary, many people who grew up under communist rule came to accept government interference in every aspect of their lives as inescapable. They were too tired to fight anymore, so they convinced themselves that communism was OK and even a benefit.

    I had to read the entire thread at -1 looking for:

    "In Soviet Russia...
    Spyware gives up on you"

    or

    "I wonder if spyware has given up any notion of intelligent users" said Baltimore-based network consultant Carl Peterson. In Soviet Russia, many programs developed under communist rule came to accept user incompetents in every aspect of their execution as inescapable. They were too numb to hide anymore, so they convinced themselves that stupid users were OK and even a benefit.

    Of course the reference was on the second page...