EU question’s spyware legitimacy

Spyware – why is it still around? Almost every intelligent being on this planet hates the thought of Big Bad Marketing Inc. having access to such personal information as his or her browsing habits, online hangouts and fascination with Uzbekistani

Spyware – why is it still around? Almost every intelligent being on this planet hates the thought of Big Bad Marketing Inc. having access to such personal information as his or her browsing habits, online hangouts and fascination with Uzbekistani eXtreme Cooking. It's almost on par with spam for many people. Despite this, it persists. Why?

One possible reason, and one that the many spyware purveyors enjoy citing, is that people like having 'custom tailored offers sent direct to your inbox.' Of course, the only way this is possible is if your personal details, such as online shopping and browsing habits, are collected, collated and indexed for use.

A much more plausible reason is a mix of ignorance and personal priorities.

While applications such as Kazaa have had their spyware components widely publicised, others – including Windows Media Player and Real Player – are less well known for their information gathering routines. Naturally Microsoft and Real Networks would vehemently deny their programs contain 'spyware'. However, features that allow Microsoft to log what music you listen to and then tie this in to a unique WMP ID can hardly be called 'consumer' focused or beneficial to the end user in any way. This explains the ignorance side of the equation. The other aspect is personal priorities.

Unless they've all been living under a rock, the majority of Kazaa's user base today must know at least something about Kazaa's spyware component. However, these people are still using it. The 'why' mainly comes down to priorities. If you're using Kazaa to get the latest KoRn album, or the latest beta of Unreal Tournament 2003, you may not care too much about having certain details collected. Even if you do, getting the latest album from your favourite band 6 weeks in advance probably takes priority. If it didn't, you wouldn't be using Kazaa. The same goes for Window Media Player and others of its ilk.

As some of you already know, Atomic HQ is also music lover's HQ. If we're here, there's music blasting from Bennett's PC. We can't work without it. Which is why you'll often hear fat bassy beats blasting through Redfern at 3AM each deadline morning.

Our music is predominantly MP3s from personal collections, with the odd smattering of CDs thrown in. We give the music to Bennett, he cues it up and then mixes our way through the day with lovely break-beat, psytrance, drum and bass and the odd Frank Sinatra ditty. And what program does Bennett use to play these soothing tunes? Windows Media Player.

Mr Ring is aware of WMP's unique identifier. He's also aware that WMP logs information on music you listen to – track titles and the like. However, he simply doesn't care. WMP plays the music, and plays it relatively well. It's easy to use (so I'm told), and is a much simpler solution than hunting around for the latest implementation of WinAmp every time Windows XP dies and needs to be re-incarnated via format c:\. As such, the application does the job it's supposed to do, and Bennett doesn't much care what it does in the background beyond that.

Despite Bennett's feelings on the matter, others – including myself – can't stand the fact that our computers are sending out information about our computing habits behind our backs. Unfortunately, the only real course of action we have as individuals is to avoid spyware-laden software at all costs, while at the same time screaming from the rooftops about personal privacy, the evils of spyware and why Yoda would kick Captain Kirk's ass in a fight. Actually, that last point's probably common to most geeks.

While we as individuals may not be able to effectively influence companies such as Real Networks and Microsoft in their spying habits, governments can.

According to this article, 'recent EU data laws… prohibit illicit online data collection and use by marketers'. Consequently, European Union officials are attempting to determine how these laws apply to programs made by companies external to the European Union – Microsoft's Window Media Player and Real Networks' Real Player in particular.