Do you remember all those really cool free software programs,
screensavers, games and "peer to peer" file sharing
applications you or your children downloaded from CNet or Tucows
and other free download sites....
WELL.... you might have gotten a whole lot more than you bargained
for!
Not only that, but simple web surfing can infect your computer
with a host of unwanted adware and spyware!
For those of you who remember reading "1984" and briefly
began wondering if someone was monitoring you through the TV hold
on to your seats because it's not far off the mark -- but it is
not your TV you need to worry about - - it's your computer!
These spyware programs can get installed either by downloading
innocent looking software program that includes them or through
ActiveX controls while you surf the internet and happen upon a
on participating web site or pop-up advertisment which can tgriger
these ActiveX controls to install a wide range of unwanted software
onto a users computer.
Spyware is not just limited to Adware any more - now
even your spouses parents, friends, and co-workers can purchase
software that can monitor your computer usage and behavior.
(see: News about
Commercial Software to Spy on Any One more information)
Now don't get me wrong, I am not against downloading a software
program here or there -- I have downloaded many, and to be very
honest - I never read the "terms of use" and went right
to the install button but I will be a lot more selective from
now on after I learned what is behind many of those free deals!
To most of us (the average person) a statement that something
is "ad supported" means that we will have to put up
with a few advertisements - no big deal right? We are all familiar
with the concept of paid advertising on TV & Radio which is
sponsored by companies who pay to have their products advertised
on the most popular shows. But in the case of adware/spyware that
is not what it means at all. It is a whole new game! What these
programs are really doing is bundling additional software along
with the one you wanted which they acknowledge will monitor your
web surfing. But unfortunately it does not end there.
Currently there are well over 800 shareware
- freeware products which also include additional components
for what we in the internet community call adware and spyware
and the numbers of web sites that include these types of installers
is impossible to calulate. These Freeware and Shareware applications
are located all over the internet as easy downloads. They can
be found on CNet, Tucows and hundreds of other locations offering
free & low cost bargains. Most of these products make no real
statement that they include adware or spyware and if they do it
is buried in the "terms of use" or at best they might
make a vague reference that they are ad supported. Some developers
might include a vague privacy statement which does not fully explain
what information will be gathered or give a full explaination
regarding what will be done with the information. For a brief
explaination of your
On line privacy rights. Compair these vague "strongly
encouraged regulations" for consumer privacy against the
detailed regulations set down by the FTC regarding
advertising disclaimer regulations.
As an example of the scope and extent of the number consumers
effected consider that an estimated 260 MILLION computer users
have download at least one of the five most popular Gnutella File
sharing applications just from CNet.com in the United States alone.
| KaZaA Media Desktop |
119,021,166 |
| Morpheus |
102,253,332 |
| BearShare |
17,651,773 |
| LimeWire |
14,528,779 |
| Grokster |
4,307,827 |
| Total Downloads from CNet.com |
257,762,877 |
| As of Sept 2002 |
|
The known third-party applications bundled with these downloads
include Cydoor, TopText, Onflow, Webhancer, BonziBuddy, ClickTillUWin,
and New.net in addition to trojans and viruses such as the self
replicating Nimda virus. These add on spyware/adware applications
can deliver on line advertisements, collect information, assign
computers user's a
GUID
for user tracking, overlay content or graphics on the Web site
they are viewing, or modify their system settings.
What is even more alarming is that these estimates do not include
the numbers from the many other download locations scatted across
the global internet nor do these figures include the various other
Gnutella file sharing programs that are available or any of the
900 freeware or shareware programs that are downloaded each and
every day that also include many of these adware/spyware componts.
If these additional numbers were able to be calculated the total
number of effected computers might well be over 600 million!
In addition to being included with other software products
many of these spyware programs can get installed on your computer
while you surf the internet!
| **
Spyware & Adware Test Scan **
If you are viewing this site with Internet
Explorer and see an alert displayed here then it is an indication
that your computer is infected with one or more spyware
programs that we can scan for. If you do not see any alert
displayed in the center of this notice then our scan did
not detect any of the 122 spyware programs we can scan for,
however, there are still many other programs out there that
we can not yet scan for.
Please note: Currently
we can scan for a 122 distinct spyware programs that can
effect PC users and the alert will only be display if a
specific targeted program is identified. Unfortunately,
we are limited to finding only certain types of spyware
and there are many other forms of spyware and adware that
we can not currently test for.
In addition, our test scan does not
work well with NetScape or other browsers, if you suspect
that you might have spyware on your computer please feel
free to check this page while using Internet Explorer. Also,
if you have a Personal FireWall installed it may interfere
with our ability to scan your computer for Parasite Adware
and Spyware. |
Why Are they Doing This?
(Back to Top)
Originally all the advertisers wanted to do was get some general
demographics on where web surfers were browsing and that was the
extent of it. Very similar to the general demographics the TV
and radio sponsors use. However internet marketing and advertising
companies got hungry for more and better information and developed
more complicated programs to gather more detailed information
right off your hard drive.
In the past the information generated was anonymous in nature
now however when someone installs software which bundles these
adware/spyware components they are assigned unique identifiers
(
GUID)so that they can be fully recognized & tracked and
provided with highly targeted advertisements. If you are looking
to buy a new car they know about it and provide you with car ads,
new house - same thing, toys for the kids, no problem. They know
what you want and will provide additional pop-up ads for you to
view! Many say this is a good thing and would prefer ads targeted
to their needs. However, the information that the adware marketers
collect is then sold to 3rd parties and can now in many cases
included your name, address, email address and goodness knows
what other information they have gathered in your unique personal
profile. For a brief explaination of your
On line
privacy rights.
Did you know that currently in the US a drug abuser
has more rights to privacy than an internet web surfer!
To accomplish this advertising and marketing firms will generally
approach struggling software developers who are hard up for the
money and offer to sponsor them financially if they will agree
to bundle these adware features with the programs they are developing.
Sometimes these marketing and promotion firms will set up, develop
and market their own separate software programs to offer out to
the general public, the primary objective is to find as many ways
as possible distribute and get the adware installed on as many
computers as possible.
Many of these adservers acknowledge that they monitor browsing
habits and click through rates and several also montor user query
strings and information from form fields which might contain highly
personal information such as email addresses, or other private
information depending on what the user might be searching for
such as medical or banking information. There have been documented
cases where highly personal information has been gathered which
the ad servers claim was "accidentally" captured.
Are all freeware and shareware programs doing this? No, not all
but most are. These adware features can be bundled with just about
any type of software including games, utilities programs, calendars,
databases, FTP programs, educational software, MP3 and audio programs,
and the list goes on and on.
Here is a list of known Freeware
and Shareware software programs that included adware and spyware
components.
So - What exactly are they installing?
(Back to Top)
Here is a brief breakdown of what some of these newer adware/spyware
programs can do once they are installed on your computer: In addition
to doing a detailed check of your browser history, they install
a wide assortment of DLLs and other executables files, they send
a continuous data stream to the parent marketing company out from
your computer and leave a backdoor open for hackers to either
intercept your personal data or enter your computer, they can
install other programs directly on to your computer without your
knowledge, they can send and receive cookies to other adware/spyware
programs and invite them into your computer (even if you have
cookies disabled), and they can add Trojan horses into your system
which perform a wide range of "mischief"on a users system
including changing your home page and downloading unwanted images
and information.
Special
Alert!
The Anti-spyware program Ad-Aware by LavaSoft can be automatically
removed by the multimedia player RadLight! Any programs
that include the RadLight player will automatically delete
Ad-Aware off your system. RadLight is also included with
many P2P file programs. If you have an older version Ad-Aware
please up date your version of Ad-Aware on your system!
|
Many spyware and adware programs are fully independent executable
files which are self sufficient programs which take on the authorization
abilities of the user, they include auto install and auto update
capabilities and can report on any attempts to remove or modify
them. These programs can reset your auto signature, disable or
bypass your uninstall features, monitor your keystrokes on or
off line, scan files on your drive, access your word processor,
e-mail and chat programs, change homepages inaddition to displaying
advertising content on or off line. Many of these spyware programs
can read, write and delete files and in some instances sometime
even reformat your hard drive and they do this while sending a
steady stream of information back to the advertising and marketing
companies.
The majority of these programs once installed can not be deleted
from your system by normal methods and leave residual components
entrenched and hidden on a users system to continue to monitor
your behavior and try to reinstall themselves. (
To find additional info on spyware programs and their develpers
Click here) Many people have noticed a significant decrease
in their computers performance after installing spyware infested
shareware with no idea of why since they had no idea of the additional
software being installed which is using up their system resources
and connection bandwidth.
We are talking serious capabilities that go way beyond the gathering
of simple demographics! By now you are probably saying no way
- that is impossible, I never gave them permission to do that
- but according to them you did - when you clicked YES on the
"terms
of use" and continued to install. Did you give that consent
with full knowledge and understanding, I don't think so! (see
our featured Article: Spyware:
Do You Know Who’s Watching You?) Privacy
- Browser Extenstions PDF
A special note to
Parents -- you may be unaware of software that your
children might have downloaded which could not only violate
your privacy rights but theirs as well! -- Click here for
a brief explaination of
Children
Privacy Regulations and check our Software list against
your registry and installed programs
Here is a list of known Freeware
and Shareware Check your computers for file sharing
applications as well since these allow direct open access
to hard core pornography - See our related editorial Children's Online File Swapping
Often Yields Porn
"75% of Children Are Willing to Give Out Private
Family Information Online," Business Wire, 1/24/01.
and "Report: Wired Kids Ready To Leak Private Info,"
Michael Mahoney, E-Commerce Times, 1/24/01. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/?id=6942
I advise any parents out there to be on the alert for any
words that are highlighted Bright Yellow or blue/green while
surfing the web because that would indicate that the Surf+ links
are back up and running which can lead to pornagraphy. For
more information on this please see our information on What
is Browser Linking, Featured
Articles, and Additional
Editorials Links
There are a number of filtering products on
the internet. Many of the most popular parental-control
filtering products, including Net Nanny, Cyber Patrol and
Cyber Snoop, are designed to target sex-related Web sites
and are not effective in blocking access to pornography
on peer-to-peer software programs, the report found. America
Online's parental controls worked only on dial-up connections,
not on high-speed connections such cable or a DSL line.
Of the seven filtering products tested, only
Internet Guard Dog automatically
blocked access to pornographic files, though access to music
files also was prevented, the report found. Two others,
Cyber Sitter and Norton Internet Security 2001,
also could be adjusted by parents to prevent file sharing.
None could be set up to block file sharing only of pornography. |
Did you know that many spyware programs can generate
pornography on your computer?
Click here for more information!
What else can these programs do?
(Back to Top)
Unfortunately programs like Go!Zilla and LimeWire, iMesh, Kazaa
along with most file-sharing apps, also install several adware
applications to finance its development including TopText and
Gator, Cydoor, and BonziBuddy. (For more information on Gnutella
type applications see our Help
Guide)
Several of these adware and spyware marketers have been raising
a lot of eyebrows within the internet community. eZula, TopText,
Surf Plus, and Gator have all come under criticism for unethical
advertising and marketing practices.
For you consumers out there I would like to throw out a few added
comments about Gator's capabilities. Some of you might have seen
the ads for this product which is advertised as a personal utility
program to assist you in managing your personal information, banking
records, credit card account numbers, passwords and other vital
information and can process forms on your behalf while shopping
on online -- sounds great -- if all the personal information it
held was maintained and remained securely on your personal computer,
but all of it does not and much of it gets included in the data
stream to Gator's headquarters where it can be sold to third parties.
One highly malicious program has the ability to uninstall and
remove a highly praised and effective program called Ad-Aware
by LavaSoft that many thousands of consumers use to protect their
computers. (see Anti-spyware program targeted by multimedia
player)
Gator is currently
coming under a lot of scrutiny because of its unethical advertising
practices where by they literally switch authorized paid advertising
on web sites and replace them with ads of their clients and do
not pay the web site owners or the original sponsored advertisers
a dime. Now I ask you is this the type of company you want crawling
around inside of your computers let alone trust with your bank
account records and passwords! There have been a number of reports
of security concerns due to a back door trojan that Gator installs and
Broadband DSLReports reports that Gator
can also be installed by visiting websites that have chosen to
be paid by Gator to include the installer links in their pages.
For more detailed information on Gator see our articles Is
Gator Spyware? ; Is Gator Highjacking
your Banner Ads? ; Gnutella File Sharing Network User
Alert.
You will also find a lot of information on our site in our Web
Masters Section about a company called
eZula, which is also distributing freeware to unsuspecting
people which includes "smartlinks" plug-ins that work
within the IE browser. These TopText plug ins enable
the viewing of specially highlighted links which eZula uses to
misdirect consumers to their paying clients, however like Gator,
they are the only ones making money off these links which are
stealing web traffic right off the surface of unsuspecting web
sites. eZula's rival in this regard
(Easylinks
- Surf+) has currently stopped broadcasting it's "smartlinks"
which were known to link to active pornographic sites and other
inappropriate materials by linking to innocent words and legitimate
hyperlinks all over the internet. In fact, at one point the Disney
web sites were under attacked by theses links which were leading
children to pornography!
Have you checked out your cookies lately?
Yes, cookies can monitor your on line surfing and transmit a
wide range of personal data about you to giant marketing companies
and violates your on-line privacy. Gennerally Cookies only hold
user profile information for a maximum of 30 days (some expire
when the user signs off) and can only be accessed by the orginial
web site. Although most web sites use Cookies ethically some do
not. One of the biggest on line advertising companies - DoubleClick
- has distributed a widely used used cookie which is installed
on your computer with out your knowledge and shares it with partnered
web sites as you surf the internet to develop an extensive user
profile about you. To find out what cookies can do
Click
Here.
DoubleClick does have an Opt-out policy for it's Ad-serving cookie:
DoubleClick allows users to opt-out of its ad-serving cookie.
For more information, visit DoubleClick's Ad cookie opt-out page.
Written by Debbie St.Clair
UnwantedLinks.com
Reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Please take a moment to write to your
congressmen about protecting your privacy and passing stronger
anti-spam laws!
There are number of new laws pending without your support they
will not get passed. Let your congressmen know that we want stronger
privacy protections. For more information see our legal
section.
Check out these
articles:
News about Commercial Software to Spy on Any One!
'Spyware' steps out of the shadows
Last modified: November 19, 2003, 4:00 AM PST
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Late in July, an e-mail that hit employee in-boxes at a British
credit card and finance company carried a secret payload--"spyware"
capable of recording confidential corporate data and sending it
over the Net.
Labeled "Wedding Invitation," the e-mail looked at first
like spam or an ordinary worm. But consultants at security company
Clearswift now believe that the e-mail was part of a targeted
attack on the victim company aimed at extracting specific information--a
nightmare scenario in the corporate security world.
Clearswift says the incident highlights a dangerous new trend
in computer breaches, where spyware applications increasingly
play a starring role. Relatively benign attacks intended to win
attention by disrupting networks are being eclipsed by sophisticated
attempts to steal passwords and other confidential information
that can be used to deliver cash.
"The good old days of script kiddies and geeks are well gone,"
said Pete Simpson, manager of Clearswift's ThreatLab division.
"These are criminal gangs, and the motive is clearly profit."
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5108965.html
‘LoverSpy’ and similar programs probably
illegal
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30 — A company calling itself Lover
Spy has begun offering a way for jealous lovers — and anyone
else — to spy on the computer activity of their mates by
sending an electronic greeting, the equivalent of a thinking-of-you
card, that doubles as a bugging device. COMPUTER SECURITY
EXPERTS said the Lover Spy service and software appeared to violate
U.S. law, but also said the surveillance program pointed to an
increasingly common way for hackers to seize control of computers.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/973960.asp
Are you being watched online?
MSNBC
Nov. 13 — Here’s a sobering thought: While you’re
looking at your computer, it may be looking back at you. There
is easy-to-get, even free, software that lets anybody spy on you,
anytime you are on your computer.Spyware programs say they catch
cheating lovers, workers. With a client base that includes computer
hackers, suspicious spouses, and employers, the use of spyware
continues to spread online. Monitoring software of all kinds continues
to flood the Internet. Earlier this year, the Aberdeen Group said
some 7,000 such programs were in circulation around the globe.
But the term “spyware” is a bit controversial. Monitoring
software runs the full spectrum from clearly illegal to relatively
innocent marketing tools. At the sleazier end of the spectrum
are silent hacker programs designed to work like wiretaps, stealing
every credit card number and password a victim types.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/992662.asp
Pending New Legislations
Spyware Targeted at Congressional Hearing
By John P. Mello Jr.
TechNewsWorld
November 20, 2003
A bill to take the "spy" out of spyware got a public
hearing before a Congressional subcommittee Wednesday.
"You're starting to see some very sophisticated capabilities
built into these things," Ken Sokol, senior product manager
at Clearswift, told TechNewsWorld. "Some spyware will sit
there and monitor what you're doing at your computer or steal
sensitive information about you or your customers."
Until now, spyware has been seen as primarily a consumer problem,
but Clearswift issued a white paper on the eve of the Congressional
hearing suggesting the malware will create serious trouble for
businesses, too.
"[Programs that] have been marketed and sold as corporate
security devices and parental control software for kids are finding
their way into the hands of hackers and criminals [who aim to]
remotely [take] control of a victim's PC to facilitate industrial
espionage," Clearswift Threatlab manager Pete Simpson said
in a statement.
http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/32206.html
Please contact your representative
to support this new legislation
Bono Introduces Spyware Legislation
July 30, 2003
By Roy Mark
U.S. Rep. Mary Bono (R.-Calif.) has introduced legislation requiring
companies using "spyware" to inform computer users of
their intent to install the invasive software and to obtain permission
before loading it onto a computer. Spyware allows companies and
individuals to monitor Internet activities and sometimes makes
it possible to gather personally identifiable information.
Bono said H.R. 2929, the Safeguard Against Privacy Invasions Act
(SPI), makes users aware of the technology before they install
it on their computers. "The SPI Act helps consumers make
more informed decisions about the types of tracking devices they
are loading onto their PCs," Bono said. The bill is co-sponsored
by Representative Edolphus Towns (D-10-NY), who said this legislation
has important implications for the privacy of Internet users.
http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/2242311
Please contact your representative
to support this new legislation
http://www.marybono.com/Feedback/Feedback.cfm :: Mary Bono
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/CA/bios/H/413.html
:: Edolphus Towns
P2P companies may face new scrutiny
Last modified: July 25, 2003, 3:44 PM PDT
By Lisa M. Bowman
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
A bill introduced Thursday in Congress would require file-swapping
companies to get parental permission before allowing minors to
use their services.
The bill, called the Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography
(P4) Act and sponsored by Reps. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., and Chris John,
D-La., would require the Federal Trade Commission to regulate
peer-to-peer networks and take steps to ensure that children aren't
accidentally coming across porn.
The bill's sponsors said as many as 40 percent of all files traded
on the networks are porn.
"Our legislation gives parents the tools they need to protect
their children from pornography and threats to privacy posed by
peer-to-peer file-trading networks," Pitts said in a statement.
"By working together to protect children, we are building
a broad and bipartisan coalition."
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-5055426.html?tag=nl
Please contact your representative
to support this new legislation
Congress cracks down on P2P porn
Last modified: March 12, 2003, 5:30 PM PST
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
The U.S. Congress is targeting peer-to-peer networks again--and
this time politicians aren't fretting over music and software
piracy. Searching for words such as "preteen," "underage"
and "incest" on the Kazaa network resulted in a slew
of images that qualify as child pornography, the General Accounting
Office said in a 37-page report, one of two obtained by CNET News.com.
The second report, prepared by staff from the House Government
Reform Committee, concluded that current blocking technology has
"no, or limited, ability to block access to pornography via
file-sharing programs."
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-992371.html?tag=st_rn
Spyware: Do You Know Who’s
Watching You?
This is an indepth & documented Research Paper from California
Polytechnic State University & Computer Professionals
for Social Responsibility which demonstrates how the Radiate
spyware module can get installed without a users knowledge.
Authors: Rom Yatziv and Clark S. Turner, J.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Computer Science
California Polytechnic State University
Abstract: Radiate, like many other companies since the creation
of the Internet, is relying on advertising and user information
for its income. In this particular case, however, it is possible
that users’ rights are being circumvented, and Radiate may
be poking its nose in private places without proper authorization.
This paper looks at Radiate and its software module, and attempts
to determine whether it is spyware, based on the ACM Software
Engineering Code of Ethics.
For your convenience since this article is quite long we are also
including this article as a downloadable PDF file Spyware-Radiate.pdf
In addition, we also are including the following PDF file as
a source of additional documentation regarding Radiate/Aureate
instillation practices. Although dated Feb 2000 it demonstrates
the process that Radiate uses without notification to the user
during normal instillation processes.
Aureate Press Statement.pdf
Protect your identity as you surf
By Neal Brandstetter
(8/14/01)
The Internet is a dangerous place, full of profiteers who sell
your personal data to information brokers and cunning criminals
who have nothing better to do than steal your Social Security
number, obtain credit cards in your name, go on spending sprees,
and ruin your credit rating. So whether you're shopping at Macys.com
or chatting with your buddies over ICQ, you'll need to take certain
precautions to keep your personal info from falling into the wrong
hands.
http://www.cnet.com/internet/
Special
TopText & Surf+ UpDate 11/02/04
We have discovered that there are Contextual Advertising
Links which look very similar to TopText & Surf+ links
which are legitimate and sponsored by participating web
sites for more information
click here! |
WebMasters & Web Site Owners
Many of these new forms of spyware have also found ways to steal
your web traffic. Don't forget to check out our WebMaster Info to find out
how to protect your web sites from these new advertising threats!
Alert your viewers about spyware
with our spyware detection script!
Help us raise awareness of the problems of spyware by alerting
your website visitors if they have spyware installed on
their computers. If we can alert consumers to this problem
it will benefit all of us as a whole. Only through awareness
will it be possible to eventually stop these unethical marketing
practices. If you would like to help us simply add the following
remote script to your web site which will alert your viewers
and visitors if they have spyware installed on their computers.
<script language="JavaScript"
src="http://www.unwantedlinks.com/parasite/parasite3.js">
</script>
This script can be placed anywhere in the body of your
site and remains totally invisible unless it detects at
least one of several browser based spyware plug-ins (including
TopText). Therefore, the spyware alert will only be viewable
to those viewers who have at least one of the identified
spyware programs installed at which point it will display
an simple text alert letting them know about it. Our script
can currently identify 124 different spyware programs. (
For more information
and to see a sample click here!)
Or feel free to use a copy of our spyware quotes script
to help raise awareness which appears in our left panel
<script language="JavaScript"
src="http://www.unwantedlinks.com/spywarequotes-feed.js"
type="text/JavaScript"></script>
This script will feed one quote at the exact location it
is placed within your site. It rotates a total of 30 random
spyware quotes. (This script will display additional random
quotes if it is included more than once) You can enclose
it in font tags to match your site text.
Here is a sample of how it looks.
|
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