Proposed Legal Action with regard to Distributors of Commercial Parasites
I have spent 2 days trying to get rid of another Commercial Parasite.
Commercial Parasites have become a major problem, costing millions of dollars a month in lost productivity.
It is time for laws that protect the consumers.
This crap qualifies as CyberTerrorism - as a result the FBI and Homeland security should be actively involved.
That's right, it is time for the federal government to protect me (and my rights) from CyberTerrorism, CyberTheath,
and CyberVandlism.
This should not be left to local jurisdictions - the cost to prosecute is just too high.
It is time to suggest appropriate legal action to protect our rights.
What Should be Illegal
| Immediate Action
Why the Federal Government Should Protect Us
| Current Laws
| References
What Should be Illegal
In all cases, the law must protect the user, not the company providing the software.
- Any software that tries to keep you from stopping it should be illegal
For instance, when some programs are stopped in the task manager, they restart themselves
Services are ok (Windows can be configured to restart them)
because one of the operating system programs can be used to stop them
- Any software that tries to keep you from deleting it should be illegal
For instance, when one parasite is stopped in the task manager, it restarts itself and renames itself.
Windows will not allow you to delete the program because it is running (that's normal),
but since you can't stop it, you can't delete it. The normal solution is to simply
restart Windows in safe mode and then delete the program. However, this parasite
modified the registry so that another program started in safe mode and managed to
keep the user from deleting the parasite. The same parasite also loaded a fake device driver
so that even after the parasite was deleted in safe mode, it automatically came back.
Because of internal encryption, there was no easy way to discover which "driver" was causing the problem.
- Programs that use stealth to hide information that could be used to protect a system should be illegal
When one program starts (or reinstalls) another, and the data is encrypted
so that users can not fix their systems, then that is hostile intent
- If people need special software to protect themselves from the program, then the program should be illegal
The company providing the software MUST publish (where it is easy to find)
explicit instructions for removing their software - downloading another program
from the same company does not count - why would anyone trust a company that just hijacked their machine
- Programs must coexist. Any program that modifies the registry, or any other configuration data,
in a way that makes another program not function must explicitly say so and explain how to restore the system
Many parasites do state that they will take over your system ... but they don't say exactly what they
are going to do and they make it very difficult to get rid of them.
If it takes more than 5 minutes to get rid of the software, then the software should
be considered hostile, and the law should protect the users.
Most of these programs should also be considered as Vandalism.
Someone has the right to ride a subway ... but they don't have the right to paint the cars.
If I visit a site, they *may* have the right to show me an add, but they don't have the right
to take over my computer and to lock me out. They don't have the right to keep me from
fixing the system. They don't have the right to clutter the screen with anything.
This is nothing less than vandalism and theft.
Immediate Action
As soon as a judge has reviewed the evidence and verified that the law is being violated,
these actions should be allowed (ie, simply accusing a company of these crimes
and presenting evidence is enough to take action)
- Any company accused of these crimes will have its IP addresses removed from all DNS servers
- Those addresses will be blocked at all major routing servers
(only 10 or 20 major routers will need this)
- If a site is outside the USA, then all points of entry must block the site
- The top 5 to 10 officers of the company should remain in jail (no bail) until detailed instructions
to remove the software are published on their web sites and on approved government web sites.
Simply deleting the offending file must be adequate -
files that recreate themselves are not acceptable.
To be perfectly clear - Commercial Parasites cost the US economy millions of dollars per month.
As a result, a federal judge should have the power to protect the public before a trial is held.
If you have a terrorist with bomb making materials, you don't leave them alone until they
- Blow something up
- Try to find where they are hiding
- Extradite them from a terrorist supporting country
- And then try them
No,
- You lock them up
- Arrest their associates
- And then try them
Commercial Parasites are a form of terrorism.
They affect the structure of our society and our overall productivity.
This is not a freedom of speech issue - any one can post anything they want on their own web page
(and I don't advocate blocking those pages).
The issue is running their software on my machine
- It interferes with what I want to do
- It steals processor power (and memory and other resources) that I paid for
- It wastes my time to try and get rid of their crap
Innocent until proven guilty applies to a crime that was committed in the past.
In this case, since the crime is being continuously committed, the first response
of the court should be to stop the crime and to aid in fixing the current problems
(removing the destructive software).
Why the Federal Government Should Protect Us
Currently, most of the legal action appears to be taken by local (or state) courts.
I'm in Virginia, but only the New York court is prosecuting this case -
How am I represented?
There are many similarities to the EPA - the federal government handles many of these cases,
not the local government.
The EPA has the ability to stop companies from continued pollution before a full trial
has taken place.
Current Laws
Virginia has a law concerning spam email ... but what about parasites that
live on your computer?
References
References
-
Spyware Lawsuit Alleges Computer Hijacking -
describes a suit filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.
Unfortunately, DirectRevenue is still providing their virus and will continue to
do so until whenever. And if a state court finds them guilty, so what,
they can still spread their crap in other states.
Author:
Robert Clemenzi