Spyware

03/03/2008

Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna wants to better protect computer users from spyware. He's called for legislation to close loopholes in existing law. KUOW's Joshua McNichols has more.

SPYWARE REFERS TO PROGRAMS THAT INSTALL THEMSELVES ON YOUR COMPUTER WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE. STEPHEN GRIBBEL TEACHES COMPUTER SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON.

GRIBBEL: "There's a relatively large number of spyware types out there today, ranging from relatively benign annoyances that might pop-up advertisements and are difficult to delete, to much more malicious and dangerous things such as key loggers that will attempt to record passwords or credit card numbers or bank account numbers and transmit them elsewhere for people to steal money from you."

GRIBBEL SAYS YOU CAN PICK UP SPYWARE BY DOWNLOADING AN INFECTED PROGRAM, OR JUST BY VISITING THE WRONG WEBSITE. HE SAYS VICTIMS OF SPYWARE OFTEN HAVE NO IDEA THEY'RE INFECTED. AND DELETING THE PROGRAM DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK. SOMETIMES THE ONLY CURE IS TO WIPE OUT THE COMPUTER AND RE-INSTALL EVERYTHING FROM SCRATCH.

STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB MCKENNA DOESN'T LIKE SPYWARE. IN 2005, LAWMAKERS PASSED THE STATE SPYWARE ACT. BUT MCKENNA FOUND LOOPHOLES IN THAT LAW. ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL PAULA SELIS HELPED CRAFT NEW LEGISLATION TO TIGHTEN THE LAW.

SELIS: "Under the existing law you have to show that a purveyor of spyware intended to do certain things, which creates a pretty high threshold of proof as a civil law enforcement agency. So we've asked that that be softened. The law would also create liability for web hosting companies who knowingly or consciously avoid knowing their services are being used to send spyware."

THE CHALLENGE FOR LEGISLATORS IS TO WEED OUT PROGRAMS WITH MALICIOUS INTENT FROM THOSE THAT MAY BE HELPFUL. STEPHEN GRIBBEL SAYS THERE'S A FUZZY BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE TWO.

GRIBBEL: "So, if Google's toolbar is collecting some information about your browsing behavior in order to provide you with ads, that could be good or that could be bad. It is perhaps a judgment call of the person using the toolbar. So perhaps what's important there is letting the person who's installing the toolbar know precisely what information is being collected and what the potential risks are."

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE WOULDN'T SAY WHETHER IT WOULD PROSECUTE BIG COMPANIES LIKE GOOGLE. PAULA SELIS SAYS THE LAW IS INTENDED TO TARGET THE MOST EGREGIOUS OFFENDERS. BUT SHE CONCEDES SOME BIG COMPANIES MIGHT WANT TO EXAMINE THEIR BUSINESS PRACTICES. FOR KUOW, I'M JOSHUA MCNICHOLS.

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