Commentary: Adware and spyware battle for control rages

Daily Record and the Kansas City Daily News-Press, Jul 19, 2005 by Rick Edvalson

(This article was originally published in Idaho Business Review, Boise, ID, another Dolan Media publication.)

One man's meat is another man's poison. This is nowhere more evident than in the current fight over the definition of spyware.

At its worst, spyware exploits security holes to install itself surreptitiously on your computer, then makes major changes to it without your knowledge. In addition, spyware may be programmed to cause harm to your own PC or to attack other computers.

At the other end of the spyware spectrum is adware. Adware typically tags along with software that we intentionally install on our own computers. Usually, these are free programs, such as search bars, games, file compression programs, screensavers, weather monitors, price comparison tools, and even anti-spyware programs.

At its best, adware will fully disclose that you are about to install it, tell you that it is going to collect certain information, and also tell you what it is going to do with it, namely, send you a string of what one marketer calls pop-ups, pop- unders, shapers, sliders and text-based links. It will also make it easy for you to uninstall it.

Consumer advocates point out, however, that very few contextual marketers, as adware providers prefer to call themselves, follow the ideal standard. Instead, the notification and consent are often buried in one of those user agreements that no one ever reads. In practice, most consumers have no idea how adware got on their computers in the first place, and they are also clueless about how to get rid of it.

As a result, the point that divides spyware from adware is a subject of heated debate. The contention of adware marketers is that since the consumer authorized the installation of their software, it should not be considered spyware. They have threatened and cajoled the anti-spyware companies to leave their products alone.

In a classic case of if you can't beat 'em, a company called 180Solutions recently applied for and gained membership in the Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology, a trade group that was formed to share information in the anti-spyware effort. The ironic thing is that the anti-spyware product that 180Solutions makes is adware.

Some COAST members were incensed at the thought of admitting a company to their group, the products of which they were advising their customers to delete. The internal fighting over the issue ultimately caused the trade group to disband altogether.

There is also a current flap about Claria, the company that distributes the Gator eWallet. The eWallet is a very popular, free product that manages your username and passwords, and can enter them for you automatically at the appropriate websites. In return, Claria collects certain non-personally identifiable information about your Web surfing and computer usage, and provides pop-ups, and other advertising that Claria thinks would be relevant to you.

A number of anti-spyware companies have removed the eWallet and other Claria software from their definitions of spyware. Among them is Microsoft. Unfortunately, for Microsoft, this came to light at the same time that rumors began to circulate that the Redmond giant was interested in purchasing Claria. Now it appears that no amount of explanation by Microsoft will be adequate to remove the perception in the minds of some people that there was a conflict of interest in that decision.

Adware is currently installed on millions of computers, with each of them generating an average of two to three dollars per year in revenue for the marketer. Given the financial stakes and the difficulty of coming to an industry consensus on how to handle adware, no single spyware removal tool can be relied on exclusively to do a complete job.

To increase your odds of finding every type of spyware and adware, you should probably plan on using several tools simultaneously, such as SpyBot, Ad-Aware, and Windows Antispyware. For links to some free ones that you should be helpful, see the online version of this column at www.insllc.net.

Rick Edvalson is president of IntegriNet Solutions Inc., a computer and networking services company serving Southwest Idaho.