Anti-spyware war launches online

Web users are being asked to name and shame companies that create spyware, malware, and other adware, in the aim to combat these malicious programs.

Internet experts at Harvard Law School and Oxford University, with the help of technology companies that include Google and Sun Microsystems, have launched the Stop Badware Coalition to fight against spyware and malware.

The coalition created a website, StopBadware.org, for internet users to get involved and report any spyware that they came across while surfing the net.

According to the site, badware includes "installing software on computers without obtaining informed end user consent, inundating end users with advertisements without adequate attribution or labelling and exposing users to pornographic material without obtaining informed end user consent".

The Stop Badware Coalition site states: "We aim to put badware developers on notice - we'll be writing statements and testing procedures to define what badware is, and we'll spotlight the worst offenders with the help of the anti-badware community.

"Finally, we aim to provide the public with quality information about badware and to help inform their downloading decisions. Long term, we hope to build and participate in a community of organizations, corporations, and individuals who are all working together to stop badware," it added.