NY State legislation targets 'spyware' installation

Long Island Business News, Apr 30, 2004 by Ken Schachter

A new bill has been introduced in Albany that would add to a nationwide groundswell aimed at curbing spyware.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Michael Balboni, R-Mineola, would prohibit the installation of spyware programs without the knowledge of a computer user, but would let businesses continue to curb Internet visits by employees to personal finance, shopping and porn sites.

In March, Utah became the first state to ban spyware, and several others have legislation pending. In Washington, anti-spyware bills have been introduced in Congress, and the Federal Trade Commission held a workshop this month to examine the issue.

Spyware, also known as adware, allows outsiders - unbeknownst to the computer user - to gain information from the machine. The software usually is installed after the user signs up for access to a Web site or a file-sharing service and agrees to get messages in return.

Those programs often track a user's movement through the Internet and trigger pop-up advertisements that can slow computer performance to a crawl.

Other forms of spyware log keystrokes, capture screen views and even let hackers turn a computer into a zombie they can control.

Also falling into some definitions of spyware is commercial software such as Spector, which allows parents and suspicious spouses and lovers to capture keystrokes and screen views.

Another category is administrative programs such as VNC, which allows system administrators to work with any computer on their network.

Jonathan Ezor, director of the Institute for Business, Law and Technology at Touro Law Center, noted that New York Senate Bill 7141 specifically includes keylogging programs.

Keylogging can be used in a number of ways, some legitimate, he said. For example, employers seeking to see if employees are using Internet access appropriately use keylogging programs.

Michael Weiner, a partner with the law firm Meltzer, Lippe & Goldstein LLP, said employees often stretch the bounds of propriety when using computers.

People are just using e-mails to do everything under the sun in the workplace, he said.

In general, Weiner noted, the law recognizes the right of employers to keep tabs on their employees while in the workplace. The assumption is that there's no real right to privacy, he said.

One frequently cited offshoot of spyware is its degrading effect on the performance of computers as it saps system resources.

Ezor said friends frequently call on him for aid with balky computers.

Ninety-five percent of the time, when someone says, 'My computer is doing funny things and it's running slowly,' it's a result of spyware and the like, he said.

The spyware often is introduced, Ezor said, when teenagers use music-download programs. To remedy the situation, he installs anti- spyware software, such as Ad-aware, by Lavasoft (www.lavasoftusa.com).

Another bill introduced by Balboni would provide a 50 percent tax credit to companies for the purchase of hardware and software to safeguard their computer infrastructure and a 50 percent wage tax credit to companies that operate only in the cybersecurity area.