Spyware and you

Keeping an eye on children who surf the Internet has always been a challenge for parents and teachers as savvy kids know how to cover their tracks after visiting forbidden sites.

In response, some software companies have developed products designed to secretly track where a surfer has been and virtually everything a computer has been used to do. These softwares are collectively known as "spyware". Company owners can use it to check on their employees. Married couples could use it to check on their spouse. Parents can use it to see what their children are doing online such as obscene sites and such.

One such product, called eBlaster 3.0 from SpectorSoft (retailing at RM380) claims to record every keystroke a person makes, copy each piece of incoming and outgoing e-mail, log chat room conversations and take down every instant message relayed through Yahoo!, AOL and MSN.

A spy can control the type of information that will be logged. A summary of the log is periodically e-mailed to the spy, even copies of e-mail and so-called secret passwords. Spyware can also be set to prevent the installation of any spyware ActiveX controls from a webpage. It does this while not interfering with "friendly" ActiveX controls- so your browser can work correctly and you can have peace of mind!

You won't get any more annoying "Yes/ No" boxes popping up, asking you to install a spyware ActiveX control (which can increasingly be found in pop-up ads!). In fact, Internet Explorer will never even download or run the spyware ActiveX control!

In addition, decent spyware can prevent many of these spyware ActiveX controls from running, even if they are already installed on your system. The newest SpywareBlaster version can even block spyware/tracking cookies and does not need to be running in the background to provide this protection!

Most spyware does not show in task manager, it occurs as registry keys and dll files so all you see is an extra rundll32.exe entry at best. Usually, it applies itself, as a "plugin extension" to your browser, so it is just plain not listed at all.

Ninety percent of the internet related problems are traceable to poorly written spyware or spyware attempting to access the windows registry or msmoney, quicken, or other memory addresses it does not have permission to access.

With the current vulnerability of drives that install that a good spyware remover and immunizer is as important to smooth operation of the PC as a good antivirus, firewall, and keeping windows updates current.

Spyware doesn't always work properly however, especially when it comes to company firewalls. Another concern is that although the "spy" may be receiving the information, so may be the company who provides the spyware (although there are claims that all information that go through a spyware company's computer is automatically deleted). You should also know that if you receive your spyware reports at work, so is your company. As your employers, they also have the right to check on your incoming e-mails.

Programs like this raise other questions involving trust and privacy issues. Usually a spyware will inform you not to install the software on any computer you do not own lest you want to risk being alienated by the parties you are spying on. If you so choose to notify people, a spyware can be configured to post a warning to the user whenever the computer is turned on. It is doubtful that anyone would want the notification feature unless they have serious suspicion on the parties involved. It is human nature for most people to sneak around and spy on family and friends or employees rather than disclose that they have installed spyware on their computer- an announcement that's almost guaranteed to start a fight.

There is however, a better way of doing things.

If you are concerned about what your children or family members are doing on the Internet, talk to them. Ask what they are doing online. Let your children know what you consider appropriate or inappropriate. Make sure they know when it's safe to give out personal information.

If you have issues with your spouse, don't let it simmer.

For employees, all you have to do is to give them ground rules on what they can or cannot do online during company time.

Software such as spyware should be only be used at last resort. Having someone discover that you've been spying on him or her is a very efficient way of destroying whatever trust remains between you and them in a very fragile relationship. Let that trust be a reservoir of trust that may be crucial to salvaging and maintaining a relationship.

Spam explained

E-mail is widely regarded as the killer application in the whole history of communications. It's fast, easy and relatively cheap. If you ask around, you are bound to find out that most people's first experience with the Internet was sending out their first e-mail. Probe a little deeper and you'll probably find out that getting their first spam or unsolicited e-mail was quite memorable too.

Getting spam is like catching a cold. There are thousands of viruses that cause cold-like symptoms, and there's little chance that a person can build up defenses against all of them. Similarly, it is next to impossible to develop filters that block out all spam and spammers. There is one effective way of eradicating spam- stop using e-mail. However, this is not likely to happen in the near future, so we'll have to live with spam as how everyone has to live with a runny nose now and then.

The act of spamming basically involves flooding an e-mail users inbox with messages they would not have chosen to receive otherwise. Most spam is commercial advertising (often for dubious products), get-rich-quick schemes, getting a university degree or quasi-legal services. Spam lists are usually obtained from Usenet postings, stealing Internet mailing lists or searching the Web for e-mail addresses. It also costs very little for spammers to send out spam as it is usually sent out in bulk or paid for by the recipient or carriers.

As e-mail costs very little to send out, it is considered an ideal tool of advertising by companies. These e-mail marketing activities are described as permission-based because the recipients, or target audience of a particular e-mail marketing campaign have agreed to receive the e-mail concerned. The purpose of e-mail marketing is clear cut says one company; it's used for branding, marketing, and to generate sales. In terms of spam or unsolicited e-mails however, it aims to con some people into paying for something that they doesn't exist such as recent events of a few Malaysians who lost thousands of Ringgit in a Nigerian scam spam that asked millions of e-mail users to help free-up usurped royal coffers in 2002.

How did they get my e-mail address in the first place?

Getting spam upsets a lot of people. How were their e-mail addresses located? It becomes worse when spam comes regularly and in large numbers. It would good to be wary of e-mail's bearing gifts, although not all messages of this sort is unsolicited. Confused?

Well, remember when you signed up for that newsletter, and there were these little boxes with sentences that said 'Please un-tick if you don't want to receive any advertising e-mail'? No? Don't worry- you're not alone.

Most people do not read the terms and conditions and privacy policies properly when they sign up for something online, so technically, the unsolicited e-mails that someone receives isn't necessarily spam. To make sure that the e-mail that you receive is from an ethical marketing company, it will usually address you by name, as personalization is a key feature of such e-mails. If the e-mail addresses you by jenny@yahoo.com, it would be safe to assume that it's spam.

Regardless of method, there is only one way of preventing unwanted - not necessarily unsolicited e-mail. Read everything carefully! The most important thing is permission because permission based e-mail marketers have their reputation at stake.

Is there any law against spam?

At the moment, there is no specific law against spam although there are provisions under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 that relates to this. Section 211(1) of the Act states that "no content applications service provider, or other person using a content application service, shall provide content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person." Spam will be covered under the upcoming Communication and Multimedia Consumer's Forum General Consumer Code of Practice that is expected to be ready this year.

Filtering techniques

		set a filter function in your e-mail account which you can check through regularly (eg: Hotmail's Junk Mail folder, Yahoo!'s Bulk Mail folder) or Block the e-mail completely
		send complaints to your email provider about the spam or junk e-mail's that you are receiving as this might prompt them to take stern action against spammers
		go through each spam/ unsolicited e-mail and unsubscribe from each one
		use filter software (beware, as it may block out advertising that you have signed up for)
		read all privacy policies and un-tick boxes that asks whether you want to receive advertising from that company- especially if it says that shares its e-mail database with other advertisers

TOP 10 SPAM MESSAGES IN 2002 Ranking Subject of unsolicited bulk mail Description 1 "Protect Your Computer Against Viruses for $9.95" Anti-virus spam was the most common this year 2 "Verification Department" Credit card scam has been prominent especially in recent months 3 "Refinancing? Get a Free Quote On Any Mortgage Loan Program" Mortgage spam holds its ground this year as a classic 4 "Printer Cartridges- Save Up To 80%- Free Shipping Offer" Printer cartridge spam, also a classic, is still one of the top spam 5 "Miniature Remote Control Car. Great Gift" A newer spam, an e-mail about toy cars for the holidays has hit e-mail accounts at full throttle in recent months 6 "$100 FREE, Please Play Now" Casino spam continued to stake out e-mail inboxes worldwide 7 "Online Auction Marketing Secrets" Online marketing scams bid heavily on e-mail users this year 8 "Important News Kuira" Septic system spam seeped rapidly through the Internet for quite some time in early 2002 9 "URGENT & CONFIDENTIAL" Nigerian scam spam asked millions of e-mail users to help free-up usurped royal coffers this year 10 "GET A FREE PASS TO THOUSANDS OF XXX SITES!" Pornographic e-mail slithered into inboxes, including those of children