behind the spyware
Everyone pretty much accepts viruses and spyware as a hazard of using the internet. You buy your internet security software and go for it, hoping for the best. Maybe because of my profession, this hits home a little.
I understand the jerks writing viruses. I don't condone them, but I can see where that comes from. High school or college age kids realizing the power they have when they write that kind of program and not really considering the consequences want to poke the internet in the side and see if they can make it stir. It's not very different from adolescents throwing rocks at cars on the interstate from overpasses, trying to make a car react without realizing they could kill someone. I don't think they give enough thought to what they do when they infect a massive amount of people's and companies' computers. They just think it's cool that they can. It doesn't make them right. It makes them smart and at the same time ignorant.
Spyware is another matter. Spyware isn't a bunch of rogue kids being stupid. It's companies actually paying people to write programs that people will unknowingly download from the internet to gather information. They are written to be sneaky and deceitful. Spyware is cold and calculating, with no regard for the people it sees as potential customers. It's telemarketing taken to an insideous level, as if telemarketing wasn't already there. In fact, spammers (just because mentioning telemarketers reminded me of them) belong in this group too, though they aren't as malicious. Someone in a position of authority at a company actively made the decision to pay programmers to do this to people on the internet. Programmers actually accepted the job and wrote the stuff, knowing what a pain in the ass they were making of themselves. Nobody here is ignorant about what they are doing. Do these people have any ethics? If the people who write viruses are assholes flexing their newfound programming muscle, spyware writers are sociopaths, with no social conscience whatsoever.
I understand the jerks writing viruses. I don't condone them, but I can see where that comes from. High school or college age kids realizing the power they have when they write that kind of program and not really considering the consequences want to poke the internet in the side and see if they can make it stir. It's not very different from adolescents throwing rocks at cars on the interstate from overpasses, trying to make a car react without realizing they could kill someone. I don't think they give enough thought to what they do when they infect a massive amount of people's and companies' computers. They just think it's cool that they can. It doesn't make them right. It makes them smart and at the same time ignorant.
Spyware is another matter. Spyware isn't a bunch of rogue kids being stupid. It's companies actually paying people to write programs that people will unknowingly download from the internet to gather information. They are written to be sneaky and deceitful. Spyware is cold and calculating, with no regard for the people it sees as potential customers. It's telemarketing taken to an insideous level, as if telemarketing wasn't already there. In fact, spammers (just because mentioning telemarketers reminded me of them) belong in this group too, though they aren't as malicious. Someone in a position of authority at a company actively made the decision to pay programmers to do this to people on the internet. Programmers actually accepted the job and wrote the stuff, knowing what a pain in the ass they were making of themselves. Nobody here is ignorant about what they are doing. Do these people have any ethics? If the people who write viruses are assholes flexing their newfound programming muscle, spyware writers are sociopaths, with no social conscience whatsoever.
John put this out here at 4:27 PM
3 Comments:
Interesting reading there! I know I'm a bit niave, but I have a hard time with the concept that this sort of thing is even legal.
The sad fact is that people and companies spy on us in our everyday lives all the time. They can track what you buy, and where you buy it... credit card and bank details are all it takes
Over here they are trying to introduce ID cards... they are going to make them compulsary and make us pay for the pleasure of holding them too... imagine how much information can be gathered using those...
Spyware and malware all suck eggs!
I spent most of yesterday fighting with malware that kept closing down my programs and I wasn't online! None of my spy/malware removal tools found it.
It's very annoying.
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