Poke the Spying Eye - Sanctions Against Spyware

Spyware is one of the biggest problems to ever infest he lives of Internet users in addition to viruses and trojans. And there have been many concerted efforts from many sectors to control and inhibit the effect of this phenomenon that violates user privacy and impairs the surfing experience of thousands of people worldwide.

In criminal law, unauthorized access to a person's computer is illegal under computer crime laws. Since many owners would justifiably claim that they never authorized the installation of spyware, a prima facie of this would suggest that the promulgation of spyware is a criminal act. Law enforcement has gone after many malware developers, especially for viruses but spyware producers are rarely prosecuted. Some lawsuits have been served though. Some US States including Iowa and Washington have passed laws rendering some forms of spyware illegal. And in 2005, United States lawmakers introduced the Internet Spyware Prevention Act, meant to imprison the creators of spyware.

Eliot Spitzer, the former New York state Attorney General and Governor has pursued spyware companies in the past for fraudulent installation of software. The California firm Intermix Media Inc. ended up settling with a payment of US$7.5 million and a promise to never spread spyware again. The hijacking of Web advertisements has also led to a litigation with a big number of web publishers suing Claria for replacing advertisements. A settlement was reached outside of court.

With all these measures in place, it's ironically still not easy to keep your computer free of spyware.

If you'd like to know more about getting rid of the threat known as spyware and other kinds of menaces in your life, be sure to visit: http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/computer-problems/how-to-get-rid-of-spyware