FTC, Congress Fight Over Spyware

from the such-anger dept

As was expected, the FTC came out today against anti-spyware bills that have been introduced in Congress leading the bill's supporters to angrily attack the FTC officials: "You like this stuff? You're the only person in this country that wants spyware on their computer." The FTC's argument, of course, is not that they like spyware, but the fear that any definition of spyware is going to include plenty of legitimate programs as well. The problem is that no one has yet come up with a piece of legitimate software that falls under the definition discussed in various pieces of legislation. It always pays to be a bit wary of legislation like this, so I don't fault the FTC, but the reasons presented so far don't make much sense.