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Section:: Web Articles < Archives > |
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Who Is Looking In Your Underwear Drawer? I don't know about you, but I'm not too crazy about the idea that others can find out that I'm still wearing those "Days of the Week" underwear. I'm really not, but I'll be discussing a privacy issue on the Internet that may shock you a little or a lot. The other day, one of our corporate clients had a computer that one of their employees had decided to install a cute, little program on called "BONZIBUDDY". A purple gorilla appears on your desktop, talks to you, finds out where you like to visit on the World Wide Web, and then he recommends other similar places to visit. After trying to remove this cute, unauthorized piece of software from the machine, BonziBuddy decided to render the computer completely unusable. After some investigation into user reviews on download.com, we found this to be a common hiccup with BonziBuddy. We also found out something very alarming in the process. The more we researched, the scarier a concept of Adware (also known as Spyware) became. In his book, "The Big Red Fez", (featured on this site as a recommended book), Seth Godin talks about several websites that asked him questions he felt were too personal or unnecessary. When Walmart first started their e-commerce site, they required you to register with them before you could even browse their store. Why? Who knows. I'm sure they probably scared off a lot of people in the beginning before they removed this requirement. Why does a company need to know how much money you make or what color your underwear is before they let you browse their store or buy from them? This does more to alienate visitors almost as much as bad design. As Seth puts it, an email address should be sufficient until you need to tell them where to ship your order. In those situations, you have the choice to not buy from them if you disapprove of their information-gathering policies. In the case of Adware (or Spyware), however, the situation is altogether different and scary. What would you do if you found out some companies were using "Push" Technology to push software to your desktop without your knowledge or consent? Read on, follow my instructions, and find out just how bold they're getting and just how "full of spyware" your own desktop could be. I not only explain this to you so you can protect your own privacy, but I also explain it so you'll think twice before deciding to engage in this type of practice as a website owner, if you're ever in the position to consider it. There exists a silent, but very strong movement of web surfers that are fighting back against advertisers who operate this way. There is free software available to anyone to protect you from these practices, also. Visit http://grc.com/optout.htm, where you'll see a statement like this: "But today we face a new and even more insidious threat. Internet companies, whose apparent "business model" is the exploitation of consumer trust and ignorance, are sneaking their spyware systems onto our machines for their own purposes." There you will also find a fairly accurate description of "Spyware", as well as a discussion of Senator John Edwards' 'Spyware Control Act'. Spyware is described as "Anonymous Surveillance For Profit". How do you fight back? A company called LaserSoft has released a new, free utility called Ad-Aware. You'll find a description of Ad-Aware and a location for download by visiting here: http://www.lavasoft.de/aaw/aaware.html Don't think your machine has been affected? Download Ad-Aware and find out the truth. Once you install Ad-Aware, start the program and click on "Scan My System". It will scan your files, registry, and file folders, telling you how many registry keys, files, and file folders are affected by spyware. When the scan is finished, click "Continue". You'll see a list of references to spyware found on your machine. You'll be shocked at the "big names" you will find in that list. Click next to each reference you want to remove so that a checkmark appears next to each one. Click "Continue", and these will be removed from your machine. Once your machine is clean, you'll get a dialogue box that says "Cleaning Finished". Want something to warn you when spyware is attempting an installation? You can set Ad-Aware to do this by clicking on the Configuration button when you bring the screen up. You can then check the boxes that say: Scan on Windows Startup Remove Spyware automatically Steve Gibson of Gibson Research Corporation, author of "Opt-Out", is working on a new product called "GRC NetFilter". Opt-Out used to do this, but he has let it expire to work on his new product. You can find out more about GRC Netfilter by visiting Steve and can also be notified when it is ready for download. Surf here to visit Steve's site: http://grc.com/oo/program.htm Want to protect your machine even more? Try Zonealarm or BlackIce Defender. Both are highly recommended and used by me if you use cable modem, DSL, or T1 connections to the Internet. (always on) You'll find these utilities at Webattack by surfing here: http://www.webattack.com You'll want to read the documentation for these programs carefully before using them, as they can be troublesome if you don't know exactly how to use them. Protect yourself and keep people out of YOUR underwear drawer! Success To You! About the Author Lynne Schlumpf is the Author of 2 Books: The Little Website That Could and Afternoons Off! You can listen to a radio interview with the author and take a free goal-setting tour here: http://www.littlewebsitethatcould.net. All articles published on EthanCote.com are copyrighted by their respective author. They are not to be taken without the consent of the author. |
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