Spyware & Scumware: Part II

When you install a program, do you take the time to plough through the mile long EULA, (End User Licence Agreement) in it's dinky scroll box with tiny print? Or do you do what most people do & just click "I agree"? After all it's just a load of legal stuff; they all say pretty much the same; most of it's incomprehensible; you want to get on with the install! Right?
Uh huh! I thought so &, whether you know it or not, in many cases you've given "permission" for the program to install spyware & scumware!

I'm sure you've heard the term "Spyware" . You know that some people say advertiser supported programs are spyware. You don't actually see them doing anything, & anyway you got the program for free so what's the big deal?

Let me ask you something!
These programs contain silent elements that run in background , what do they actually DO?
Do you know?!?!?

Have you ever sat with a young child while they read a storybook, to help them with the words they didn't know? Have you ever sat beside your kids or a friend while they surfed the Internet? I'm sure you have, or you can think of similar circumstances where you've sat beside someone to help them. But they always knew you were there, right? They wouldn't forget about you after a few minutes & then go & do things they wouldn't want you to see! In any case you looked away when they entered a login & password, that's private!

Well spyware sits right beside you all the time & it doesn't look away when you enter private information! You can't see it doing anything so, for sure, you DO forget that it's there! Surf through a few pages; follow a couple of links; search for something interesting with Google; pop into your bank account to pay a bill; check the balance on your credit card; check out the TV programs for tomorrow; login to Suite101 & post to a couple of discussions; download a new program; etc. etc.
Spyware was right there with you on every single page!!
You have an invisible "companion" sitting on your shoulder!! It tracks everything you do while you are on the Internet. It "looks" at every single web page that you look at, yes even your online banking pages! It reads & analyses each & every page & then it "phones home" with the information it has been told to gather.

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