|
|
My computer was invaded and so was yours*
© 2010 Max Lent
http://www.maxlent.com
I didn’t know it when it happened and I couldn’t
tell that it had occurred. I thought I my computer was protected.
I did all of the right things. I’m behind a firewall, I have
Norton Anti-Virus installed. I have my browser privacy and
security levels set so high that I have to lower them several times a
day just to visit popular news Web sites. I delete my browser’s
cookies daily. With all of that effort, I was confident that my
computer was fully protected. It was not. Commercial Web
sites had installed spyware on my computer and were tracking my every
move through the Web.
Advertisers and others, installed programs (not
cookies) in my computer with the intent of tracking my online behavior.
Some of these programs were installed in my computer’s operating
system registry, deeply buried and disguised. If you attempt to
open the registry of Windows, you will receive a warning that the
registry should only be manipulated by a systems administrator. I
discovered more than eighty of spyware programs on one of my computers.
Many of the programs were imbedded in the Windows registry.
How did I get the spyware? From visiting
standard commercial Web sites. Some of the largest and best known
corporations in America install spyware on the computers of visitors to
their commercial Web sites without the permission of the visitor.
Examples include Real Networks
http://www.real.com and Kazaa
http://www.kazaa.com.
I installed a free program called PestPatrol
http://www.pestpatrol.com to
rid my computer of spyware and thought I had a handle on the problem.
I then installed another free program called Adaware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware and ran it. After
PestPatrol found dozens of spyware programs installed on my computer and
removed them, Adaware found dozens more.
The practice of corporations installing spyware on
personal computers should be illegal, a Federal offense. If I did
the reverse and installed spyware on every government employee’s browser
who visited one my Web sites, it would certainly lead to my arrest.
Could you imagine the penalties for installing spyware on a corporate or
government computer? This is an example where corporations and
others are allowed to hack into your computer and spy, but not be spied
upon. In my opinion, the existing laws against computer hacking
need to explicitly include corporations and their behavior towards
consumers. The same penalties should apply to corporations as
apply to individual hackers.
I did not give Real Networks, Kazaa, or any other
corporation the right to spy on my behavior in any way. I consider
any intrusion by them as unlawful entry into my home and into my
personal affairs. Doesn’t our constitution say something about our
right to privacy that covers this issue? I want to see
corporations and government agencies answerable to the same stringent
legal standards regarding computer hacking that apply to me.
I don’t know if any of the spyware programs
discovered on my computers originated from government agencies.
The spyware removal programs didn’t provide me with enough information
about the programs to make a determination. However, it was spooky
to contemplate how easily a government out of control could start
tracking the behavior of its citizens using this kind of technology in
the name of national security.
Run one of the anti-spyware programs on your
computer and let me know how many times your computer privacy was
breached? I think you will be depressed when you discover how many
corporations have been watching your computer behavior. While you
are sitting at your computer enraged by what you discover, give some
thought as to how long your Web browsing behavior was spied upon.
If you get really mad about this, contact your
legislators and demand that they take action. It is, after all,
their job to defend the constitution and represent you. Next,
contact the Electronic Frontier Foundation
and the American Civil Liberties Union
and request their assistance.
Recommended Reading
Web sites
-
American Civil Liberties Union.
http://www.aclu.org/.
-
Electronic Frontier Foundation.
http://www.eff.org. EFF is one
of the few organizations protecting your electronic rights. They
deserve your support.
-
OptOut by Steve Gibson
http://grc.com/optout.htm.
Steve Gibson is a champion of computer security and privacy and should
be every Web surfer’s hero. Gibson makes a clear case to stop
corporations and others from unethically using access to your computer
to spy on you.
-
Spyware Guide.
http://www.spywareguide.com/product_list_full.php. Curious
whether software installed on your computer is spyware? This Web
site publishes a list of known software that uses spyware. It’s
a long list.
Software (for Windows computers)
-
Adaware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware. Recommended.
The interface is elegant and easy to use. It is also thorough.
(Freeware).
-
MRU-Blaster
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/mrublaster.html. “MRU-Blaster
is an all-new program, made to do one large task - detect and clean
MRU (most recently used) lists on your computer. These MRU lists
contain information such as the names and/or locations of the last
files you have accessed. But they are located ALL OVER your registry,
and for almost ANY file type. By looking at these MRU lists, someone
could determine what files you opened/saved/looked at, what their file
names were, and much more! (And, in many cases, the lists are
displayed in drop-down menus automatically.)” This program
eliminates data that spyware programs track.
-
Norton Anti-Virus from Symantec
http://www.symantec.com/.
-
PestPatrol
http://www.pestpatrol.com.
This the first anti-spyware software I used on my computer. I
thought it was doing a great job until I installed Adaware.
(Freeware).
-
Spybot - Search & Destroy.
http://spybot.safer-networking.de/. Untested.
(Freeware).
-
Zone Alarm Pro from Zone Labs.
http://www.zonelabs.com Although Zone Alarm Pro is not designed to
perform anti-spyware tasks, it can be used to prevent spyware from
sending information from your computer.
Books
-
Database Nation : The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century by
Simson Garfinkel.
-
Privacy in the Information Age. by Fred H. Cate, Michael H.
Armacost
-
Technology and Privacy: The New Landscape by Philip E. Agre, Marc
Rotenberg.
-
The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between
Privacy and Freedom? by David Brin
-
The Unwanted Gaze: The Destruction of Privacy in America by
Jeffrey Rosen. Book Excerpt: "At the beginning of the
twenty-first century, new technologies of communication have increased
the danger that intimate personal information originally disclosed to
our friends and colleagues may be exposed to -- and misinterpreted by
-- a less understanding audience. For as thinking and writing
increasingly take place in cyberspace, the part of our life that can
be monitored and searched has vastly expanded. E-mail, even after it
is ostensibly deleted, becomes a permanent record that can be
resurrected by employers or prosecutors at any point in the future. On
the Internet, every Web site we visit, every store we browse in, every
magazine we skim, and the amount of time we spend skimming it, create
electronic footprints that can be traced back to us, revealing
detailed patterns about our tastes, preferences, and intimate
thoughts." -- from the prologue of 'The Unwanted Gaze'
I'm told that this problem does
not exist for Linux users.
|
|
