Toolkit

Story: Anti-spyware 'deceiving consumers'

• 
• 

Try Lavasoft....it's free and I've had no problems
I found this on their website

Worst Practices - Why we have decided to leave COAST
Nicolas Stark Computing AB (Lavasoft) announces that we will no longer tolerate, support, or participate in the COAST (Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology Vendors) organization. The current leadership's overt agenda to concentrate on revenue generation flies in the face of the spirit of the original mission Lavasoft set forth when we founded COAST. Not only do their current efforts shed a bad light on COAST, but also reflect badly on the entire anti-trackware industry.

To understand our decision to leave the organization we founded, you will need to understand what COAST was intended to be and why we started it in the first place.

Over the last two years we have become increasingly concerned about the obvious problems with overall standards and the unethical behavior of many new entrants to the anti-trackware industry. Nicolas Stark began the Ad-aware project in direct response to the security industry's inability/refusal to address on-line Privacy and aggressive advertising issues. The goal then as it is now is to provide a means to inform the user of what has been installed on their systems, to enable them to remove said content at their choice, and to bring pressure on the advertising/software industry to change the way they do business.

It was expected and inevitable that the popularity and success of Ad-aware would cause others to see an opportunity and join the industry. This is just simple economics and is the way all industries begin and later, grow. What we have found both extremely disturbing and to be a great disappointment is that most of those who chose to enter the anti-trackware industry have not had the fortitude or desire to adhere to the standards we have set from the beginning. They see potential sales and revenue as the goal of their existence rather than embracing the causes of consumer reporting, ethical advertising, and social change.

In June of 2003, we began what has become known as COAST (The Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology Vendors). Our goal was to bring together a group of industry leaders to formulate detection/definition standards, a code of ethical conduct, consumer education, and an easily accessible place where everyone could come to find information about companies and applications that adhere to the highest standards of public service.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

Full Talkback thread