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| Wednesday, March 16, 2005 | |
FTC Ponders: Is 'Adware' Spyware?
by Wendy Davis, Wednesday, Mar 9, 2005 7:00 AM EST
COMPANIES THAT INSTALL AD-SERVING SOFTWARE on
consumers' computers and serve them pop-ups--such as WhenU, Claria, and
180solutions--bristle at being called "spyware," rather than the more
neutral term "adware." But is spyware really the wrong word for such
companies? Perhaps not, according to participants in a spyware workshop
convened last year by the Federal Trade Commission. An FTC report on
the workshop issued this week, "Monitoring Software on Your PC:
Spyware, Adware, and Other Software," stated that panelists and
commenters differed widely about whether adware should be considered
spyware. Some participants held that the most important factor was
whether the software led to the serving of pop-up ads; if so, they
argued, then it was spyware. Others argued that the adware/spyware
distinction hinges on whether users had adequate advance notice of what
the program would do; if so, then it's adware, but if not, spyware's
the appropriate name. Still others maintained that adware could only be
spyware if it monitored where users went on the Web.
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