While you are surfing the Internet, is the Internet watching you?
You bet.
Privacy advocates are raising alarms about ''spyware'' programs that monitor the electronic footprints of every Internet store you visit or stock report you read, and clandestinely report back to advertising firms what you did.
The advertising industry insists the programs are harmless, arguing that the programs only compile aggregate data so ad firms can prove the effectiveness of Internet advertisements. No one is identified by name, they say.
But privacy advocates see special dangers in these new programs, noting that the spyware is dropped into millions of individual computers whose owners aren't aware they're being watched. Since the spyware programs run undetected while surfers use the Internet, individuals can be easily identified, they say.
The new generation of spyware is hidden inside programs that are downloaded from computer disks or Internet sites offering free programs to track stock quotes, speed up downloads or play games.
Once the software is installed, each move on the Internet - called clickstream data in the industry - is reported back over the same telephone line the Internet surfer is using. In some cases, the program then feeds back banner ads to the individual computer.
Montreal spyware sleuth Gilles Lalonde (http://www.infoforce.qc.ca/spyware) has compiled a list of more than 400 spyware-infected programs he has found on the Internet.
Steve Gibson, a Laguna Hills, Calif., computer programmer, calls them ''browser parasites'' and is offering free software (http://www.grc.com) that sniffs out the stealth programs.
Gibson says his success is an indication of the growing concerns about Internet privacy: He has distributed almost 1.5 million copies of his detection program since he first offered it in March.
No comments:
Post a Comment