posted on Jan, 4 2005 @ 01:29 PM
What better way to get information from your computer than to have you give it up willingly and happily in the very name of protecting that
information and your privacy? The same old "Problem -> Reaction -> Solution" method of gaining information and control would work just as well with
Anti-Spyware software as terrorism does for the Patriot Act. "He who gives up liberty for temporary security..." Fearful and worried about
the boogeyman coming through the front door, you hire a serial killer with a charming smile to watch over your family. Spyware and Adware, the problem
is created. We need a solution to fix this problem, since we are all so dependent on the Internet and computers. "A computer in every home."
And here it is, ladies and gents! Anti-spyware! ...or is that Double-Speak?
Spyware alert raised to Orange! Spyare! Adware! Stealware! Tupperware! BEware...is what we're told. Otherwise the computer nasties will get you, rape
your computer and leave it helpless and whimpering in the corner like some stereotypical Hentai character. Install Anti-spyware and gleefully watch as
it first links up to the update site and then deep scans your files.
So as my Supa-Dupa, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Adware, Anti-Hijack Bug Killer 3000!, a "Giant" of a program that was just bought up by W.Gates and Co.,
fires itself up and does a scheduled scan through all the files on my computer. I watch with smug satisfaction, knowing that my computer is safe from
evil electronic spies and snoops trying to invade my privacy, splash porn across my desktop and steal my bandwidth...or is it?
The scanned files list ticks over at a million bits a second - or something stupendously impressive like that - and suddenly I start feeling a
little...well...violated. This anti-spyware program is scanning all of my files, even down to the .dll's and .log's (I have no idea what those li'l
buggers do). "But that's ok," I think, "this thing is here to protect me from the evil wares that I have been taught to fear so much. And besides,
the information doesn't leave my computer."
...but wait...
The next day my spykiller links up to the website of the software manufacturer and downloads the latest updates to keep me safe and secure from the
latest threats. My paranoid mind starts ticking over faster than a waterlogged watch and I wonder is anything being UPloaded? File names? Internet
history/logs? Posts on ATS?
But then I think I'm probably being too paranoid (likely), or that my computer knowledge is too little to know that this is impossible (more than
likely).
And then my Anti-virus software fires up...
Am I too paranoid?