A Pyrric Victory for Internet Users

A little over a year ago, I thought that my computer was dead but it turned out to be severely incapacitated by adware and spyware infections. As always, the Senate has it's pulse on important issues, so last week the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved what they are calling the Spyblock Act.

A U.S. Senate committee has approved a bill that would outlaw the practice of remotely installing software that collects a computer users' personal information without consent.

In addition to prohibiting spyware, the Spyblock (Software Principles Yielding Better Levels of Consumer Knowledge) Act would also outlaw the installation of adware programs without a computer user's permission.

Sadly, there will be loopholes as there are with the National Do Not Call List and as we all know, computer hackers don't really worry about operating within the realm of the law. It is a nice gesture to see the Senate taking a stand on the issue, but the end of spyware and adware will be the beginning of some other new and annoying type of intrusive software applications.