FTC settles suit with spyware vendor
The two-year-old lawsuit filed by the FTC against Cyber Spy Software has drawn to a close. With new conditions imposed, the company is now allowed to sell its RemoteSpy product, which basically allows someone to remotely monitor typed keystrokes, websites visited as well as to capture screenshots from the target machine.
Cyber Spy was hauled to court in 2008 for practices which include teaching customers how to trick victims into running the spyware. The FTC explained in a press release last week how it had to put the brakes on the operation then as it was "showing customers how to remotely install it on other people's computers without their knowledge or consent." And of course, it was touted as a "100 percent undetectable" way of spying on others from "anywhere."
As part of the settlement, the company is forbidden from promoting RemoteSpy as an application that can be installed on machines without the knowledge and consent of their owners. In addition, the software is to include a warning that improper use of the software could violate state or federal laws.
In addition, Cyber Spy also has to take steps to "reduce the risk that their spyware is misused" by means of encrypting data that is transferred over the Internet, and to ensure that legacy versions of the software from computers on which it was previously installed was removed.
For more on this story:
- check out the article at CNET News
- check out the article at Ars Technica
- see the press release
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