Giving New Meaning to 'Spyware'

Software companies like Claria, which distribute their pop-up advertising software by bundling it with free programs such as peer-to-peer software, adamantly deny their products are "spyware." They point out that users can usually find a definition of the programs' effects deep in the user agreement.

It is unclear what effect the new definitions will have on current anti-spyware programs, such as Lavasoft's Ad-Aware and Microsoft's free AntiSpyware tool.

Recently, Microsoft downgraded the default program action for Claria's software from "Remove" to "Ignore," which prompted widespread criticism.

Microsoft responded by saying that it had changed the handling of "Claria software in order to be fair and consistent with how Windows AntiSpyware (beta) handles similar software from other vendors."

Microsoft is in negotiations to buy venture-capital-backed Claria, according to The New York Times.

Ben Edelman, the country's foremost spyware researcher, questions whether the new definitions are simply there so that adware companies can find a way to get a stamp of approval for their software.

"From the perspective of users whose computers are infected, there is nothing hard about (defining spyware)," Edelman said. "If you have adware or spyware on your computer, you want it gone.

"Maybe the toolbar is Mother Theresa, but it's Mother Theresa sitting in your living room uninvited and you want her gone also," Edelman said. "You don't need a committee of 50 smart guys in D.C. sipping ice tea in order to decide that.

"The question is, what do you want to do with it? If you had a consensus of 100 computer-repair technicians or Bill Gates himself, what would they say to do?"