A new website, StopBadware.org, will spotlight the companies that make millions of dollars by tricking Internet users to download malicious spyware, adware and malware programs they don't want. The multiyear initiative will empower consumers to fight back against badware. It is being supported by prominent high-tech companies, including Google, Lenovo and Sun Microsystems. Consumer Reports WebWatch, a grant-funded project of Consumers Union, has agreed to a pro-bono role as special consumer adviser.
The Berkman Center and Oxford Internet Institute hope this initiative serves as a deterrent by publishing names and reports of companies spreading badware and as an educational tool for software developers by providing principles they can follow to provide a positive user experience. At StopBadware.org Internet users will be able to check to see if programs they want to download are badware and alert others to malicious programs they have encountered.
"Intruders are now in your house without your permission," said John Palfrey, co-director of StopBadware.org and Executive Director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. "They entered through your computer to bombard you with sneaky pop-ups and install tracking software to spy on your every move and steal your most personal information, such as credit card or Social Security numbers, in order to sell that data to a stranger. StopBadware.org will shine a much needed light on the unethical activities of these companies."
Whether spyware, incessant pop-ups or other obtrusive programs, badware today plagues millions of people by turning their computers into machines to spy on them and steal their data. Unlike viruses and worms, badware becomes embedded in a computer by downloading games or software or just by visiting certain websites.
According to a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project, roughly 59 million American adults today have badware on their computers. Problems related to badware forced home computer users to spend roughly $3.5 billion in 2003 and 2004 to replace or repair their hardware, according to Consumer Reports.
"Badware and its nastiest effects -- violation of privacy, identity theft, and computer hijacking -- hit consumers without warning," said Beau Brendler, director of Consumer Reports WebWatch, a grant-funded initiative of Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. "WebWatch research shows these and other threats are turning almost a third of U.S. Internet users away from the Web. We believe StopBadware.org is a great way to fight back."
According to a recent study from Webroot Software, badware today is a $2 billion-a-year industry. Specifically, it's an industry made up of hyper-aggressive, unethical marketing supported by business relationships tying legitimate advertisers to online marketers, small application vendors, website operators and shady online groups.
Here is how the program will work:
-- Internet users can visit StopBadware.org to check whether programs they want to download are infected with badware and alert others to programs they have encountered that include malicious software such as spyware, incessant pop-up ads or other obtrusive programs.
-- StopBadware.org will publish short user friendly reports on downloads they have identified as badware, as well as more detailed academic studies on the problem of badware.
-- StopBadware.org will publicize the names of companies that make up the most insidious purveyors of badware and shed light on how they make money through unethical marketing practices. For example, advertisements will spotlight the worst purveyors of badware.
-- StopBadware.org will seek the horror stories from Internet users who have been adversely affected by badware. It will publish these stories to raise awareness of badware's harmful affects.
-- StopBadware.org is directed and advised by some of the most respected experts in the technology arena, including John Palfrey of the Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Jonathan Zittrain of Oxford's Internet University and such Internet pioneers as Vint Cerf, Esther Dyson and others.
