A Utah judge has granted an injunction to adware maker WhenU.com to temporarily halt the state's new anti-spyware law from going into effect.
New York-based WhenU, whose software is the subject of several lawsuits, filed a lawsuit in April to challenge the nation's first anti-spyware statute, called the Spyware Control Act, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. The suit, filed in the 3rd Judicial District Court in Salt Lake County, Utah, was filed shortly before the law was set to go into effect in May.
"This is an important decision for the entire online advertising industry," said Avi Naider, CEO of WhenU. "Spyware is a problem and we want to put an end to it. WhenU supports anti-spyware legislation at the federal level, but Utah's act unfortunately impairs legitimate online advertising as well."
Representatives for the state were not immediately available for comment.
Utah is the first state to pass a law regulating spyware and other advertising software. "Spyware" and "adware" are rarely clearly defined, but the terms typically refer to software that tracks computer users' actions online or uses a computer's resources to pop up advertisements or other messages.
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News source: CNet
New York-based WhenU, whose software is the subject of several lawsuits, filed a lawsuit in April to challenge the nation's first anti-spyware statute, called the Spyware Control Act, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. The suit, filed in the 3rd Judicial District Court in Salt Lake County, Utah, was filed shortly before the law was set to go into effect in May.
"This is an important decision for the entire online advertising industry," said Avi Naider, CEO of WhenU. "Spyware is a problem and we want to put an end to it. WhenU supports anti-spyware legislation at the federal level, but Utah's act unfortunately impairs legitimate online advertising as well."
Representatives for the state were not immediately available for comment.
Utah is the first state to pass a law regulating spyware and other advertising software. "Spyware" and "adware" are rarely clearly defined, but the terms typically refer to software that tracks computer users' actions online or uses a computer's resources to pop up advertisements or other messages.
View: Complete Article News source: CNet
We've now had this story twice :)
Kill spammers!
Kill all the lawyers!
No, seriously, just kill the slimy defense lawyers.
Anti-broadband and pro-spyware.
how is it pro-spyware?? just because a judge temporarily postponed the effects of the law?
Die spyware!
Each of the following have asked the governor to veto the bill. That's one impressive list. While I haven't read the bill & dont know the details, the list below seems to imply something isn't right with the bill.
AOL, Amazon, the Association for Competitive Technology, AT&T, the American Electronics Association, the Business Software Alliance, c|net, the Computer & Communication Industry Association, eBay, Google, the Information Technology Association of America, the Internet Commerce Coalition, Intraware, MCI, Microsoft, NetCoalition, Novell, Orbitz, the Software & Information Industry Association, Verizon, and Yahoo
They list their reasons & make a pretty good case. Teir letter can be read here. Hats off to Utah for at least trying to do something about the problem... but if you are going to do it, best make sure you do it right.
Last edited by 10547 on 23 Jun 2004 - 11:47
AOL, Amazon, the Association for Competitive Technology, AT&T, the American Electronics Association, the Business Software Alliance, c|net, the Computer & Communication Industry Association, eBay, Google, the Information Technology Association of America, the Internet Commerce Coalition, Intraware, MCI, Microsoft, NetCoalition, Novell, Orbitz, the Software & Information Industry Association, Verizon, and Yahoo
I see a list of money hungry corporations and companies - that's why the bill isn't fit for them.. or am I wrong?
I think you are wrong. The bill, as written, would impede certain network communication, hamper security. and has a definition of spyware that could be interpreted to even classify MS's Windows Update as spyware.
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