The term “spyware” has been applied to everything from keystroke loggers, advertising applications that track users’ web browsing, web cookies, to programs designed to help provide security patches directly to users.
More recently, there has been particular attention paid to a variety of applications that piggyback on peer-to-peer file-sharing software and other free downloads as a way to gain access to people’s computers. Many of these applications represent a significant privacy threat.
There are at least three general categories of applications that are described as spyware. They are:
• Spyware - key stroke loggers and screen capture utilities, which are installed by a third party to monitor work habits, observe online behavior, or capture passwords and other information;
• Adware - applications that install themselves surreptitiously through “drive-by downloads” or by piggybacking on other applications and track users’ behaviors and take advantage of their Internet connection;
• Legitimate software - legitimate applications that have faulty or weak user-privacy protections.
It is in the first two cases that the spyware label is the most appropriate. In the third case, it is not.
