Food for thought - imminent code war between spy/anti-spyware?

[billandopus]

Saw this at DSLReports.com. Interesting article and interesting commentary from the DSLReports Forum.

DSLReports Thread

MSNBC

I don't think this has been posted before. Sorry if this is a repost.

 

[arcas]

It was just a matter of time before this happened and it brings up some interesting legal liability questions.

The article doesn't appear to discuss what criteria the spyware program uses to identify files targeted for corruption. Possibly only the name. Or maybe by name plus some other criteria such as a hash. Let's assume it's merely using filenames:

Now, let's construct a scenario: Let's say I've named one of my critical business files, say a spreadsheet or database, such that it becomes a target for intentional corruption. Let's ignore arguments like "nobody in their right mind would name their files like that." When the spyware program intentionally corrupts that file, it would seem I have a clear legal case against the spyware company.

 

[billandopus]

This whole thing is interesting from a "consumer" standpoint. I just downloaded adaware5.7 ... but I wonder if it do a thorough job in deleting spyware or if the spyware company programmers have already taken the new 5.7 release into account and have bypassed it somehow. Maybe even have their own spyware go into stealth mode while adaware trumpets a lack of spyware on your comp. I mean, how do you know?

I guess one way to find out is run something like ZoneAlarm which will monitor the ins and outs into your comp. Or a hardware firewall maybe. I don't know.