Update 2005: Viruses and Parasites - What's a EULA?

The good news is Viruses seem to be passé, although still with us. The bad news is Parasites are on the rise.

Parasites: those pesky spy-wares, ad-wares, key-stroke loggers, mal-wares, trojan horses, and worms are still going strong. As Michael Gregg of High-Performance Network Tips reports on March 23, 2005, “While spyware programs are nothing new, they continue to grow in virulence and sophistication. Anyone that uses a computer and the Internet should be aware of the risk these programs present. While they can be troublesome to the home user, they can pose an even bigger risk to a corporate network.”

Why? Because Parasite writers themselves have become more sophisticated.
In the old world order, Virus writers reveled in destroying information. In the new world order, Parasite writers have shown us that information is important and can be profitable…to the right people. Imagine being able to dip down into the bowls of an operating system while quietly, and systematically, collecting critical personal and company information to either sell or otherwise use for your own gain. For home users this could mean stealing credit card information, bank account numbers, social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and contacts. For business users this could mean lifting customer lists, getting into bank accounts, stealing passwords, employee lists, addresses, phone numbers, and financial information. All of which is a sellable commodity to advertisers, marketers, identity thieves, investors, the competition, recruiting companies, even to the federal government.

The more holes we seem to plug the more that new ones open up. It is impossible today to restrict everything, yet that is almost exactly what we would need to do in order to protect ourselves. Of course we all know this is not viable, so we need to depend on software and hardware companies and products to help us stay safe. But we also need to take responsibility for our own actions.
Most spy-ware for instance, is legitimately downloaded to your computer at your approval. That’s right, you approved of it. Take those seemingly innocent smiley faces, those cute little mode-icons, or even music and movie downloads. In almost all cases you were presented with what is called a EULA (End User License Agreement) to approve or deny. Have you ever completely read one through? Hidden among the legal-eeze you will most likely find a paragraph that specifically states that you are giving the web site authorization to download and install certain softwares onto your computer to be used to track and report on your buying or surfing habits.

Here is the paragraph listed at the bottom of the Smiley Faces web site that most users will not read. I’ve highlighted it in red:

Please read carefully. By clicking the "Click Here"button above and downloading Smiley Central, I accept and agree to abide by the End User License Agreement
Click on End User License Agreement above to view the entire EULA.

Among other notices and conditions, the Smiley Central EULA cites,

“MY WEB SEARCH BROWSER COMBINED END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT/ TERMS OF SERVICE/AND PRIVACY POLICY IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BY CLICKING ON THE "SUBMIT", "DOWNLOAD", "I ACCEPT" OR SUCH SIMILAR BUTTON OR LINK AS MAY BE DESIGNATED FOR PURPOSES OF INITIATING THE DOWNLOAD OF THE ACCOMPANYING SOFTWARE
PRODUCT AND SERVICES (WHICH CONSIST OF THE "MY WEB SEARCH BROWSER", ITS ASSOCIATED FEATURES DESCRIBED BELOW AND "EASY INSTALLER") (COLLECTIVELY, THE "SOFTWARE") OR BY USING THE SOFTWARE, THE END USER ("YOU") AGREES TO BE LEGALLY
BOUND BY THE MY WEB SEARCH BROWSER COMBINED END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT/TERMS OF SERVICE/AND PRIVACY POLICY (THE "AGREEMENT").
THE SOFTWARE INCLUDES A SUITE OF FEATURES TO IMPROVE YOUR ONLINE EXPERIENCE. THESE FEATURES INCLUDE MYWEBSEARCH™, SMILEYCENTRAL™, CURSOR MANIA™, FUN BUDDY ICONS™, HISTORYSWATTER™, MY INFO™, MY MAIL NOTIFIER™, MY MAIL SIGNATURE™, MY MAIL STAMP™, MY FUN CARDS™, MY MAIL STATIONARY™, POPSWATTER™, POPULARSCREENSAVERS™ AND SEARCH ASSISTANT. ALL OF THESE FEATURES ARE INCLUDED IN THE SOFTWARE AND ARE COVERED BY THIS AGREEMENT.”

So yes, the smiley face icons you requested will be downloaded… along with 14 to 15 other programs that you probably did not want. Some, or all, of these products may be classified as spy-ware. Take the reference above for MY WEB BROWSER. This is known spy-ware that can easily track and report back your web surfing habits as it is a plug-in to Internet Explorer.

ITC Computer Services of Arizona
Office/Fax: 602-375-7934
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Web Site: http://www.itcaz.com/
Email: mike@itcaz.com