Spyware: Suggested Classroom Discussions

Spyware takes advantage of technology for pop-ups, cookies, keyloggers, and auto-dialers, but are there legitimate (non-spyware) uses for such technology? Could some legitimate uses be abused? Could information collected by this technology be gathered in other ways? Consider the following questions and topics for discussion:

• Online retailers tracking your purchases to help you improve your shopping experience (tracking past purchases, tracking purchases by people who bought the same thing).
• Employers tracking productivity and use of company equipment.
• Online ads generating revenue that keep valuable sites operating.
• Online communities helping you set your preferences (news and entertainment sites, personalization).
• Spyware creators making money by selling the advertising that spyware causes on infected PCs, or from watching the user’s Web browsing behavior and selling the information, or by selling other personal information it finds on infected computers (such as the user’s bank or financial information).
• How does spyware differ from legitimate uses? How does it differ from viruses or grey-area programs such as adware?

What steps can you take to protect yourself against spyware? Which Internet sites should you trust for downloads? How do you know?