Sometimes it seems like the spyware problem is getting completely out of control. Fortunately, there's a website that's beginning to make life much more difficult for the purveyors of malware -- StopBadware.org, which just issued its second set of reports on programs that have made its Badware Watch List.
StopBadware.org, run by Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and Oxford University's Oxford Internet Institute with assistance from Consumer Reports WebWatch, researches consumer complaints about suspected spyware and identifies the worst offenders for its list. In March it published its first four badware reports on Kazaa, MediaPipe, SpyAxe, and Waterfalls 3. Yesterday the organization announced its next four reports, and it's definitely a collection that shows the wide variety of forms badware can take.
Winfixer pretends to be a system repair utility but loads a rootkit that continually warns the user of bogus "severe system threats" untill they get the paid version of the program. Funcade is a set of games that claims to be spyware-free, but StopBadware found it not only installs typical spyware programs but a Trojan horse downloader as well. UnSpyPC presents itself as an anti-spyware program but then identifies real anti-spyware programs as threats that should be removed from the user's computer.
But the program that StopBadware.org considers the worst of the eight on its list is the Jessica Simpson Screensaver from an outfit called Team TaylorMade. Not only does it come bundled with spyware, adware, Trojan horses, phony toolbars, etc., it also contains the AvenueMedia stealth dialer that automatically dials for-pay porn sites with the user's modem.
By the way, while you're checking StopBadware.org out, I think Gripe Line readers will particularly enjoy reading the comments posted in the March report on Movieland's MediaPipe. MediaPipe appears to be one of those classic sneakwrap scams in the mold of Manay Software. Movieland claims that users have all agreed to its terms of use requiring payment after a free trial and therefore has the right to pop up incessant nagware notices to force people to pay up. But the experiences posted by BadWare's readers make it clear that the program is often installed by drive-by downloads and other surreptitious means, with even brand new computers displaying MediaPipe nag screens saying it's been in use for 90 days. It's that kind of feedback from users that gives real hope StopBadware.org will really help get the spyware problem under control.
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