Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Spyware
by: douchrti
Total views: 93
Word Count: 793
John Locke said that "no one ought to harm another in his
life, health, liberty, or possessions",Yet as I sit here at
my computer this morning, I get the feeling that the
attempts being made to keep the Internet's safe will not
come to fruition soon.
Yes, I can hear you saying, "don't be such a downer,
Doug"
Well, hear me out.
Lets explore John Lockes quote shall we?
Life. Yours, mine, your loved ones. Its yours, to do with
what you will. Well, sometimes your will is to use the
Internet's. But how secure are you? Is your AntiVirus,
AntiSpyware and Firewall working and up to date? Do you know
what is a Spam email is and not to click on the URL they
provide? These decisions can affect your life if you are
online.
Next, Liberty or as I prefer to think of, Freedom. To have
access to particular resources without constraint. If online
threats are making your life hectic, would you consider your
rights violated? I would if I found out that some drive by
download had installed a keylogger on my computer and then
cleaned out my bank account. Or how about while you're
trying to conduct business online and you keep getting these
awful pop=ups telling you about the sale at Harveys Fish
Emporium.
Are your Liberties/ Freedoms being constrained yet?
Now we come to the best part, the pursuit of Spyware. Ok, so
John Locke didn't say anything about Spyware, Write your
own article, this ones mine!
Threats to our online safety are growing in leaps and bounds
by the day. I learned long ago, there is always someone out
there who is better than anyone previously. The attacks on
servers, the Bot networks, the phishing, the URL re-directs,
Keyloggers, Image Spam, it just goes on and on. Your
personal information is at risk every minute you are online.
I know, you have the best AntiVirus, AntiSpyware, Firewall
there is. But is it really? How do you know? When was the
last time you ran "Hijack This" and uploaded the results
to a help Forum like MajorGeeks, Bleeping Computer or
DaniWeb? Its the only way to make sure your computer is
clean. And theres no guarantee it wont become re-infected
two minutes after you leave the Forum.I know it happens
because I frequent these Forums and I see hundreds of
freaked users pleading for help. Many are repeat submitters.
Which brings me to the whole purpose of this article. To
bring into the spotlight those out there who fight everyday
to help keep us safe. They sit at their computers for hours
at a time, examining postings in Forums to help others they
don't even know stay out of the clutches of those who would
benefit from the misfortune of others.
Ever get that feeling of helplessness that comes when your
computer wont work right.
Remember? Not fun huh? These people read your postings and
know your pain. Its hard to do this also, they have to help
you fix your computer thru posting instructions for you to
do. Miscommunication and frustrations can cause it to take
longer and compound the repairs.
Then there are the organizations that go after the meanies
that cause your pain.
They put out alerts and issue fixes. These include The
Alliance of Security Analysis Professionals, The
Anti-Spyware Coalition, The Council of Advocates for Relief
from Malware Assimilation, The Spamhaus Project, just to
name a few. There are plenty more out there that are
fighting the good fight every day. The goal is a
communication arena where all can participate without
concern of malicious intent.
Kind of like the old days when the Internet first existed.
Back then there were "Hackers". They were mostly driven by
ego and competition to see who was the best. Now its mostly
about money. Legions of Bot captured computers sending out
Spam and ads going to millions and millions of unprotected
servers, computers and of course, into your email. Theres
also the Pharming of websites, waiting like a spider in its
lair for you to show up and give you a lil driveby download
of something special. You name the evil that people do and
you can find it online. Thank goodness the goodness of the
Internet's is on the other side of the scale.
So, the solution? Make another one and try again? I don't
have the answer, I do know that there are good people out
there who want safety for all and are making a good show of
it. They deserve our thanks.
I believe there is alway bad that comes with the good. A
balance or whatever. And like the other saying goes,
Retaining Freedom for all requires constant vigilance.
So be vigilant.
About the Author
About the Author: Doug Woodall has a website at
http://www.spywarebiz.com
There he provides free information and recommended products to combat Spyware, Viruses and
other Online Nasties.
Rating: Not yet rated
Login to vote