Bogus Spyware programs, grrr

dark_matter · 10 Oct 2006 at 14:26

Does anyone know what happens to the people who write this stuff? You know, the website redirect that tells you all about the imaginary spyware you have, and then charges you to remove it. Do they go to prison? Where are they based? Surely more should be done to prevent them from operating? Its criminal... And the courts are too busy suing 12 year olds for downloading mp3's rather than bring justice to the likes of people who extort money from people.

I know that downloading is wrong, but what justice is there in this world anymore?

/end rant

FatRakoon · 11 Oct 2006 at 14:23

Too true mate.

Not too long ago, I was hit by the Spyware Quake / SpyAxe junk and it took me quite a while to sort it out... Spyware Doctor did it where others failed by the way, but it turns out its a proper legal company based in the US... Erm, Massechussetts I think ( Cant spell the place, but you can see where I mean ).

Yes, its rotten, yes it wrong, but guess what?

You are absolutely spot on...They really dont give a freaky fat flying f... lip about the likes of us. They are only looking for the spotty gimps who are downloading music for free.

As far as I am concerned, people who write this sh1te should be ****** garotted. They are scum and quite frankly they dont deserve to be pi55ed on if they were on fire.

The_KiD · 11 Oct 2006 at 14:38

What happens to them? Very little I am affraid.

With the internet still being fairly lawless it makes it hard to prosecute these companies as they never seem to fall under anyones jurisdiction.

There are some who have been done, such as Direct Revenue, who were famously shut down not so long ago.

The good people at malware complaints however are trying to change things, by gathering evidence on companies and trying to keep track of the number of people infected so that eventually court cases can be brought against them

http://www.malwarecomplaints.info/index.php

Other sites for good info are:

http://www.vitalsecurity.org/
http://billpstudios.blogspot.com/
http://temerc.blogspot.com/
http://www.netrn.net/spywareblog/

The_KiD · 11 Oct 2006 at 15:05

Forgot to add if you want to know if an Anti-Spyware program is legit or not then take a look at: http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

If it aint on their list then the chances are that it's legit