As one of the "helpdesk monkeys" behind the phones, I applaud the effort that someone is (or at least, making the appearance of) taking action again the scum that give my customer so much grief.
For one, i really hate hate the term "spyware" when applied to most of these programs (as many of them do no spying). "Predatory software" better describers this class of malware - maybe even "Trojan horse" as they say they do one thing, (and may actually do it) but they also have "side effects" - popups, redirects, etc. This is like giving away candy to children tainted with a new experimental drug your testing (of course, you made them sign a 50-page document in 2-point type explaining what was in the stuff, right?).
Full disclosure is not enough, because the person on the end has no clue what it means. The end user has no clue, and is unlikely to get one however much you try (if you don't believe me, get a job at your local ISP helpdesk). The people that make this software - and those whom bundle it - are predators of the ignorant, because if they DID understand what this "shiny piece of software" did, they wouldn't install it. Of course, some users DO find out - usually after their machine has been trashed - and of course, there (usually) is either no uninstaller, it doesn't work, of course have to download off their website (after your winsock has been trashed, of course) - and unless you know how to apply an
Winsock Rip or has a utility like
LSPFix, time to grab that restore CD. Naturally the end user has no backups, or any clue what they are, much less how to do it.
I'd love to be able to help those who's computer have been fouled up such "spy/scum/parasite/preditorware" - and send the bill to the company who wrote the thing. (Usually my alarm goes off shortly after the idea).
The tough part will be defining on constitutes "predatory software" - lest we wind up with DMCA-like act (or worse); ;something with more perforations that the (You) Can Spam Act; or something that make distributors of badly written but legit software (like Windows!) have legit fears of getting sued-enjoined.. If a good definition can be found, the predators who distribute that software should be open to lawsuits, damages and injunctions to the people whom are victimized by their software, with punitive and treble damages for deliberate malicious activity (like some of the versions of CWS that go out their way to ensure "removal" of the program will render you machine unbootable, or automatically close and redirect all resources for removing them).
Ideally, there would be a mandatory death penalty on the first offense for the executives of the companies whom distribute such software. Future offenses could carry even harsher penalties.
