The Information Spyware CollectsSpyware is able to collect a whole range of information about you and your computer usage. From which web sites you visit, to the more sensitive data of passwords and banking details, Spyware is always there running in the background monitoring and gathering in order to pass this information back to its source. Never before has so much data been collected on us all as individuals. With debit and credit cards leaving an electronic footprint that can be easily traced and followed, to store loyalty cards that record valuable marketing intelligence about our purchasing habits and patterns, we quickly become victims of quite ruthless marketing campaigns designed to exploit our analyzed weaknesses.
Spyware plays a part in this brave new world of data gathering by collecting information about web usage and feeding that back into the system. It is almost Orwellian in its approach. Spyware Analyzes Data Spyware will analyze and collect information from your computer files - your letters, spreadsheets and database files. It is not just your online activity in which it is interested. Spyware collects information about your computer system configuration and feeds it back to an unknown third party which then allows them to further exploit any weaknesses that exist there. Spyware collects information about the computer user and enables information gathering on web behavior and keystrokes whenever online. Spyware collects more weighty information including personal identification details, bank acocunt passwords and credit card numbers. Spyware does all of this without you knowing it is happening. Spyware is openly and routinely attached to some well known programs including Kazaa, Morpheus, Gator and Net2Phone but is still downloaded without the user fully appreciating the implications of their actions. Because of the revenue opportunities that Spyware can create it does have the potential to become more damaging, devious and harmful, with the use of Spyware in organized crime increasing on a daily basis. Spyware Collects Data Information about the behavior of a computer user has real value to marketers and vendors. It allows them to target individuals very specifically with advertisements, marketing pitches and sales ploys that all go towards increasing the chance of a sale. And, that is just the so called legitimate use of Spyware. These malicious programs can also be used to steal information that the computer user would never usually reveal to anyone and such action can only have a criminal intent at its root. Spyware can be deliberately introduced on to a machine by one user to monitor another. This has been done to monitor children when online and also to check up on spouses who are thought to be cheating. The secretive manner in which any Spyware operates has to violate the basic human right to privacy. If you have any form of Spyware on your personal computer chances are that it knows more about you than your best friend does. Is this really the sort of information you want to be shared with an unknown third party? |