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Mu-Sly

Digital Audio Science

Big Brother is already watching you! : articles

Big Brother is already watching you!

Posted Thursday 4th July 2002

Please note: This article is old, and my advice now would be slightly different, in that I'd advise people to stop using Internet Explorer completely and switch to any number of better, free browsers such as Mozilla Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Here's the original article:

Have you ever used Hotmail to send a confidential email? Have you ever typed something into an online form that you would prefer wasn't seen or used by anyone other than it's intended recipient? Chances are that you have - credit card details, your address, your email address and so on.

You may think you details are secure - indeed, the website may be running over an encrypted connection from a trustworthy company. However, it is not the company you are doing business with who is likely to steal your details and use them without your permission. The real truth is much scarier than that, and unless you stay aware, you could find yourself receiving targeted spam emails (or worse, someone using your details without your knowledge) from mysterious companies who somehow seem to know an incredible amount about you and your interests!

What I am talking about is a nefarious technology known as "Spyware". It has been going on for a few years now, and hides itself alongside various useful software packages, such as Gator and Audiogalaxy which many people use online. You may read that these programs are "advertising supported" meaning that they are available for free in return for displaying banner adverts from various sponsor companies within the program. However, sometimes that description is just a little bit too vague, and it is alarming how much that vagueness can be used to exploit unwary users.

You see, these "advertising supported" programs aren't always as innocent as they seem. Some of them don't just display adverts - they run all the time in the background, and transmit a copy of anything you type into a web form that could be considered useful to their information pilfering masters. What's worse, they can't be blocked by firewalls, virus checkers or any other application designed to keep Internet nasties out. They simply piggyback on your web browser, and so your protective programs are none the wiser.

Some even go so far as to change the contents of web pages you view - they spot keywords (for example "holiday") and place targeted adverts to a competitors site selling that particular product on the page you are viewing - as if you had placed the advert for your competitor on your own web page!

Aside from the fact that what these programs do is verging on illegal under the Data Protection Act, it is nearly always carried out without the user's knowledge, and the companies concerned are decidedly unwilling to admit that it is even going on (other than a vague sentence or two in the small print of their disclaimer).

So, first things first. Get yourself protected by downloading Ad-aware from http://www.lavasoftusa.com - it's a free scanner program that finds and removes spyware on your computer. You should use it as often as you use your virus scanner - at least once a week - and keep it's data files updated to spot the new programs stealing your information.

Secondly, if you are really concerned about this underhand theft of your personal details (and you should be!), write a letter to your MP, Congressman or whoever demanding that such practises are outlawed, and hopefully something will happen about it (in a year or two, if we are lucky).

Something needs to be done to stop this unscrupulous information theft, or we will all end up as yet more statistics making bad people richer.

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