Fighting malware and spam
Third round for US anti-spyware bill
Anti-spyware legislation presented in US House of Representatives for third time.
Anti-spyware legislation was presented for the third time in the US House of Representatives last month. The proposed 'Spy Act' ('Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act') would make it unlawful to install software that gathers information, monitors usage, serves up ads or modifies browser and other settings on the computer without the user's consent. The legislation would afford the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wider scope to pursue those responsible for spyware, broadening the definition of spyware and allowing the FTC to impose fines of up to $3 million per violation of the act.
However, the Spy Act has twice before been passed by the US House (in 2004 and 2005), but on both occasions faltered once it reached the Senate thanks to opposition from the advertising industry. With the increasing proliferation of spyware, as well as extensive media coverage of legal cases involving spyware (see VB, March 2007, p.12), it is hoped by many that it will be third time lucky for the passing of the Spy Act.
01 April 2007
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VB100 certification
The final VB100 of the year sees a double whammy of potential
pitfalls for our comparative participants - the
Vista operating system, which still seems shiny
and new as well as a little scary (to both developers and users), as well
as the x64 architecture, whose ostensible compatibility with standard
32-bit software belies oddities and intricacies that developers ignore at
their peril. The announcement of the test brought a few surprises, as
several regulars opted to skip this one, but the majority of veteran
competitors took part as usual, along with several newer faces, many of
whom look set to join the ranks of our regulars.
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