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Eric Howes writes on the first anniversary of the FTC Spyware Workshop.

Juicy tidbits:

“The adware firms who submitted comments to the FTC or who gave interviews to reporters last year all claimed that the problem was exaggerated or that they themselves were cleaning up their acts.

In fact, in the one year since the workshop the installation methods used to install spyware and adware have become more aggressive, exploitative, and dangerous. The use of security exploits as well as out-and-out malware, in particular, has become widespread and even brazen. To be sure, the use of security exploits to install adware/spyware wasn’t unknown at this time last year, however, those earlier instances were comparatively few and rare, and thus noteworthy and novel. Now they’re rampant.

…Instead of cleaning up its act, the adware industry has essentially spent the last year thumbing its nose at the FTC.