Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Safe Harbor Spells Win For Kaspersky In Malware Case Against Zango

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the hire-good-engineers-instead-of-lawyers dept.

suraj.sun writes to tell us that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of security company Kaspersky in the recent case questioning their classification of Zango software as malware. "The court ruled that Kaspersky Lab, which classified online media company Zango's software as malware and 'protected' users from it accordingly, could not be held liable for any actions it took to manufacture and distribute the technical means to restrict Zango software's access to others, as Kaspersky Lab deemed it 'objectionable material.' Zango sued Kaspersky Lab to force the Company to reclassify Zango's programs as nonthreatening and to prevent Kaspersky Lab's security software from blocking Zango's potentially undesirable programs. In the precedent-setting ruling for the anti-malware industry, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that Kaspersky Lab is a provider of an 'interactive computer service' as defined in the Communications Decency Act of 1996 . Part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 states: 'No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of ... any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to [objectionable] material.'"

11 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. As long... by Twillerror · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As long as the anti-malware gives me the choice and some basic information they can clasify Firefox as malware.

    Chances are if you don't recognize the software name it was either installed by the OEM or was installed without your knowing...

    Plus the open market will sort this sort of thing out. If they start clasfiy incorrectly no one will use them.

    1. Re:As long... by Gerzel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not really.

      The open market is very stupid when it comes to software for the most part. They just go with whatever is installed with little to no research into what the program actually runs like or long term performance. It is mostly advertising that gets new software onto computers with a little word of mouth after that. Problems are only noticed when the computer stops "running like it used to" or shows other major faults.

  2. What's more disturbing by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We actually need a court precedent for deciding if adding a feature to your program is legal?

    1. Re:What's more disturbing by blueg3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Courts deciding whether we can add features to programs is nonsense.

      Of course, I might be biased. I just added an undocumented feature to our popular medical records management software that allows doctors to access patients' medical records over the Internet. Encryption and access restrictions work just fine, I think, provided the software is configured properly...

    2. Re:What's more disturbing by Crazy+Wolverine · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think even more alarming is the fact that Zango didn't get laughed out of the courtroom, and that this case made it all the way to the 9th circuit court of appeals. Back when they were 180Solutions, they were one of the most notorious adware companies around.

      --
      Hail to the victors baby!
  3. It's about time by cyberzephyr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Zango and all of it's various iterations have been a plague for countless people. I'm glad the court ruled against them and i hope it sets a good example.

    --
    I'm here for the experience, not the Hyperbole.
  4. Re:Didn't know what Zango was by Em+Emalb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    KILL IT WITH FIRE!

    Nah, that would allow the "phoenix" company to rise from the ashes...just using a different name. I'd humbly suggest the following:

    Invite a horde of angry Mongols to their office building. Ask said Mongols to do what they do best. Once the flames, smoke, and lamentations of the women die down to a dull roar, invite the US Army to do some tank maneuvers over the remains.

    Then, till the soil, salt it, and nuke it repeatedly from orbit. After the land becomes habitable once again, repeat the process.

    --
    Sent from your iPad.
  5. What's next? by JobyOne · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Child molesters suing to have their name removed from the registered sex offenders databases?

    --
    Porquoi?
    1. Re:What's next? by FrostDust · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even the most virulent of scumbags deserve their day in court.

    2. Re:What's next? by JobyOne · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What worries me isn't so much that people are allowed to sue if they feel they have been wronged (that's a wonderful freedom).

      What worries me is that we've built a society where the answer to every little thing has become "sue them." We also built this stupid society on top of a court where the most expensive legal team wins.

      It's a nasty world for the little guys.

      --
      Porquoi?
  6. Re:Now Kaspersky next Microsoft by FishWithAHammer · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Why are you trying to install software to a non-native partition? It sounds more like you're the problem here.

    --
    "You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."