CSC 379 SUM2008:Week 3, Group 4
Bundling Malware
History
Bundling
Many freeware and shareware applications have been incuding spyware and ad-ware applications along with thier products. Many of these products include:
- Peer to Peer applications
- Free Email Clients
- Game Downloads
- and many others...
These companies choose to bundle this ad-ware/spyware with thier product in order to gain a profit. One bundle that computer users see the most is Internet Explorer toolbars. These toolbars although not malicious, put advertisements and slow down Internet Explorer.
There are more harmfull bundles; however, technogoogles recently published an article dicussing how imesh,a peer to peer music network, has been using Marketscore. Marketscore diverts the users internet connection through a proxy, this proxy looks at the users internet usage and credit information.
Regulation Attempts
Ethical Concerns
Info
Some types of malware are legal, such as ad-ware and spyware that often comes bundled with (frequently free or trial-use) software applications. Examine recent attempts to regulate ad-ware and spyware, and the ethical concerns addressed. What ethical considerations are there in deciding to bundle ad-ware and spyware with software? Is regulation needed?