Even as the U.S. House passed a bill to slap heavy fines on those slipping spyware onto computers surreptitiously, EarthLink said the average Internet-tied personal computer hosts 26 spyware programs.
Known as the Spy Act, the anti-spyware bill passed almost unanimously October 5. In addition to the fines for spyware dissemination, the bill would also offer guidelines for technology companies distributing software capable of most types of electronic monitoring and requires consumers be allowed to choose whether to install such programs and agree to let them collect specific information.
Working with security company Webroot, EarthLink scanned over 3 million computer systems between January and September and found 83 different spyware instances, which EarthLink and Webroot called a sign of rising malware bombardment.
The programs monitor user activity secretly and usually come bundled with freeware or shareware programs or by way of e-mail and instant messaging programs. They can be hard to remove without anti-spyware or anti-adware programs and often cause computer slowdowns or crashes. And some can even steal passwords and other sensitive personal information. Others which trace computer keystrokes or clicks are already illegal under American law.
"Spyware remains a serious problem for consumers. But the upside is that consumer awareness of the threats posed by spyware is rising," Webroot chief executive David Moll said in a statement announcing the results of the EarthLink/Webroot study.
The Spy Act, written by Rep. Mary Bono (R-California), covers civil penalties. A parallel bill imposing criminal penalties, written by Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Virginia), was expected to hit the House floor for a vote October 6 and likely to pass, also by a wide margin.
The lone no vote on the Spy Act belonged to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), whose pattern includes a history of voting against spending measures and who is well on record as saying the government shouldn't be in the business of policing the Internet.
Goodlatte's bill, according to House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas), was preferable to the Spy Act because of the criminal sanctions. Barton also said he plans to work on combining both bills for a final vote by the end of the year.
Barton added that experts inspecting his committee's computers found more than sixty kinds of spyware on the computers, installed without the users' consent. He got no argument from the committee's ranking Democrat. "People are increasingly finding their home pages have been changed or their computers are sluggish," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois). "Their computers are no longer their own, and they can't figure out why."
The Spy Act does, however, allow FBI- or spy agency-built snooping software as long as the agency in question gets a court order or other legal permission. The bill, if signed into law, would take effect twelve months later and expire in 2009.
EarthLink said they distribute free copies of anti-spyware programs like its own SpyAudit and Spyware Blocker and Webroot Spy Sweeper to EarthLink customers.
