Pryor Introduces Anti-Spyware Bill

According to the news reported by iTnews.com.au on June 18, 2007, Mark Pryor, a US based Senator, wishes to make it a punishable act for business houses to download spyware without their permission.

According to the Spy Act and I-Spy Act, in the second week of June 2007, 'Spy' bill has been announced by Pryor, the Counter Spy Act. Following the pattern of Spy and I-Spy act, which had the discussion of technology and political opponents, the Counter Spy Act makes it clear that installing spy ware on the user's PC, without their permission, by hackers or by companies, will be considered an offensive act.

The Democrat from South is hitting the so-called 'drive by download', which directly installs software, when the user clicks on it. It has also targeted the spyware, which can be downloaded with other software.

Pryor throws light on the difficulty faced by the users in the removal of this uninvited software. He gives instances from the study of AOL that almost 80% of the sampled PCs were infected and further around 89% of users are not aware of the infection in their system.

The revelation of the Counter Spy Act of 2007, by Pryor, was conducted after discussing every sphere of this topic. He adds that the act will stand as a barrier for the hacker's illegal installation of spyware in the user's PC without their prior knowledge.

According to the reports by M&C on June 18, 2007, Pryor claims that spyware is a serious threat against both security and privacy. In spite of the fact that there are minimal valid reasons for it to continue, but the presence of innumerable reasons viz. identity theft, sluggish computer performance makes this practice a necessary ban.

In May 2007, two spy ware bills were cleared by the US House of Representatives. Interestingly, none of the bill was passed by Senate, because of the manner in which they were written. Further, the two bills stand and compete against each other.

Almost every technology firm and software developers pass the wording of the first bill i.e. the Internet spyware Prevention Act 2007 (I Spy Act 2007). Although it was not that much broad as the counterpart bill HR 964. Spy Act or Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act, receives lot of complaints and attention, primarily because of restriction of words.

Earlier, the association of Information Technology, America stands against such legalization, but they still did not comment on the present law of making spy ware illegal.

Related article: Pirate Bay Charges Top Media Players for Sabotage

» SPAMfighter News - 7/2/2007