Post Tagged with: "Spyware"

Liberals To Drop Controversial Copyright Lobby Spyware Amendments

With the Industry Committee now scheduled to contact its final clause-by-clause review of Bill C-27 on Wednesday, sources in the Liberal Party advise that its MPs plan to withdraw several controversial copyright lobby-inspired amendments to the computer program and spyware provisions. Since first reported on Friday, thousands of emails and […]

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October 20, 2009 10 comments News

Anti-Spam Bill Faces Fight Over Consumer Protections

Appeared in the Toronto Star on May 19, 2009 as Anti-spam Bill Targeting Phishers, Spyware Appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on May 19, 2009 as Long-Awaited Anti-Spam Bill Likely Faces a Few More Hurdles The recent introduction of the Electronic Consumer Protection Act, Canada's long-awaited anti-spam bill, has been greeted […]

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May 19, 2009 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

The Electronic Commerce Protection Act – The Spam Prohibitions

The Electronic Commerce Protection Act (aka Bill C-27 or the anti-spam bill) is a lengthy, complicated piece of legislation.  At 69 pages, it involves many new prohibitions, enforcement measures, and changes to existing laws.  Given its complexity, I'll divide the substance of the bill into several separate postings.  This post focuses on the prohibitions – there are three primary prohibitions but it quickly gets complicated.  The short version of this is that the bill requires all senders to obtain express consent before sending commercial electronic messages (including email, instant message, etc.) and to include contact and unsubscribe information.  It also includes provisions designed to counter phishing, spyware, and botnets used to send spam.

The more detailed version is:

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April 24, 2009 24 comments News

30 Days of DRM – Day 11: Involuntary Installation of Software (Circumvention Rights)

Yesterday's post addressed the negative impact of anti-circumvention legislation on security research.  There is another security issue that merits discussion – the involuntary installation of software that may constitute a personal security threat to individual computer users.  Such software is frequently classified as spyware – software programs that are placed on users' computers without their informed consent that proceed to cause havoc by compromising personal information, posing an identity theft risk, sending spam, and infecting other computers.

While spyware can worm its way onto a personal computer in many different ways, inclusion within a DRM is a possibility. The best-known example of the DRM-spyware connection is last year's Sony rootkit fiasco

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August 29, 2006 6 comments News

Spyware: The Latest Cyber-Regulatory Challenge

Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, Berkeley, CA link

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April 1, 2005 Comments are Disabled Conferences