The Stop Badware Coalition will spotlight the companies that make millions of dollars by tricking Internet users to download malicious spyware, adware and malware programs they don't want. The multiyear initiative will empower consumers to fight back against Badware. It is being supported by prominent high-tech companies, including Google, Lenovo and Sun Microsystems. Consumer Reports WebWatch, a grant-funded project of Consumers Union, has agreed to a pro-bono role as special consumer adviser.
This coalition hopes to serve as a deterrent by publishing names and reports of companies spreading Badware and as an educational tool for software developers by providing principles they can follow to provide a positive user experience. The coalition has launched a website, http://www.StopBadware.org , where Internet users can check to see if programs they want to download are infected with Badware and alert others to malicious programs they have encountered.
"Intruders are now in your house without your permission," said John Palfrey, co-director of the StopBadware Coalition and Executive Director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. "They entered through your computer to bombard you with sneaky pop-ups and install tracking software to spy on your every move and steal your most personal information, such as credit card or Social Security numbers, in order to sell that data to a stranger. The StopBadware Coalition will shine a much needed light on the unethical activities of these companies."
"We are placing the companies on notice that make millions of dollars by spreading Badware. Consumers will know who you are, the media will know who you are and federal regulators will know who you are so they can investigate whether you are acting legally and ethically," said Jonathan Zittrain, co-director of StopBadware.org and Professor at the Oxford Internet Institute. "By creating an Internet 'Neighborhood Watch,' we empower consumers to seize back control of their computers from companies that engage in unethical and sometimes illegal practices."
Whether in the form of spyware, incessant pop-ups or other obtrusive programs, Badware today plagues millions of people by turning their computers into machines to spy on them and steal their data. Unlike viruses and worms, Badware becomes embedded in a computer by downloading games or software or just by visiting certain websites.
According to a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project report, roughly 59 million American adults today have Badware on their computers. Problems related to Badware forced home computer users to spend roughly $3.5 billion in 2003 and 2004 to replace or repair their hardware, according to Consumer Reports.
"Badware and its nastiest effects - violation of privacy, identity theft, and computer hijacking - hit consumers without warning," said Beau Brendler, director of Consumer Reports WebWatch, a grant-funded initiative of Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. "WebWatch research shows these and other threats are turning almost a third of U.S. Internet users away from the Web. We believe the StopBadware.org Coalition is a great way to fight back."
"For the last decade, we have been amazed and delighted by what we can do online. And yet people feel increasingly powerless to stop unscrupulous individuals and companies from infecting their computers with programs that they didn't request," said Vint Cerf, one of the Internet's founding fathers and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. "The providers of Internet services and software simply must get this problem under control so the users can realize the full potential of their access to the Internet."
According to a recent study from Webroot Software, Badware today is a $2 billion-a-year industry. Specifically, it's an industry made up of hyper-aggressive, unethical marketing supported by business relationships tying legitimate advertisers to online marketers, small application vendors, website operators and shady online groups.
Here is how the program will work:
- Internet users can visit StopBadware.org to check whether programs they want to download are infected with Badware and alert others to programs they have encountered that include malicious software such as spyware, incessant pop-up ads or other obtrusive programs.
- StopBadware.org will publish short user friendly reports on downloads they have identified as badware, as well as more detailed academic studies on the problem of Badware.
- StopBadware.org will publicize the names of companies that make up the most insidious purveyors of Badware and shed light on how they make money through unethical marketing practices. For example, advertisements will spotlight the worst purveyors of Badware.
- StopBadware.org will seek the horror stories from Internet users who have been adversely affected by Badware. It will publish these stories to raise awareness of Badware's harmful affects.
StopBadware.org is directed and advised by some of the most respected experts in the technology arena, including John Palfrey of the Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Jonathan Zittrain of Oxford's Internet University and such Internet pioneers as Vint Cerf, Esther Dyson and others.
Consumer Reports WebWatch's unpaid advisory role will be to assist with program design, development of guidelines to improve consumer notice and disclosures regarding spyware, and outreach to consumer organizations and consumers. Consumer Reports WebWatch is supported by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Participation by Consumer Reports WebWatch, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Oxford Internet Institute is not subject to oversight by StopBadware.org's corporate sponsors.
The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a department in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford. Founded in 2001, it is one of the first multi-disciplinary research centers at a major university that is focused on the societal implications of the Internet. See: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk .
Jonathan Zittrain is the first Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the University of Oxford. A professorial fellow at Keble College, he is based at the Oxford Internet Institute where he is the director of graduate studies. A co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Jonathan also holds the Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Visiting Professorship for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies in the Harvard Law School. See: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=faculty_professors .
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