The Spyware Weekly Newsletter is distributed every week to 20,000 subscribers and read online by hundreds of thousands of visitors. Please read our Terms of Use for quoting guidelines. http://www.spywareinfoforum.info/newlsetter/feb7,2005.

Wherever the term "adware" is used, it is referring to a category of software, not to any particular company or product.

The contents of this newsletter is commentary. It should not be mistaken for unbiased, objective journalism.

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This article is a few days old now. Original article: http://www.spywareinfoforum.info/articles/spyware/coast_implodes.php

The Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology Vendors (COAST) appears to be undergoing a messy self-destruction. Two of COAST's founding members, Webroot Software and Aluria Software, withdrew as members of the consortium on Friday. Another founding member, Lavasoft, withdrew from COAST in December 2003. All three companies cited concerns about the direction in which COAST was heading as reasons for severing ties with the group.

The surviving COAST membership now includes PestPatrol, NoAdware.net, NewDotNet, Weatherbug and 180solutions. (*Update! See bottom of article)

COAST began in 2003 as a group of antispyware software companies and researchers. COAST's goals were to educate the public about the problem of spyware and to work with spyware developers to tame their software and make it more acceptable to users. However, COAST has come increasingly under fire for accepting controversial new members.

Weatherbug makes software which is adware. 180solutions created a very obnoxious spyware known as nCase and, more recently, an adware program known as Zango, which is nearly as bad as nCase. NewDotNet produces neither adware nor spyware but almost universally is disliked by the general public.

There are many in the antispyware community who believe COAST is doing more harm than good. COAST would seem to have a clear conflict of interest. A consortium of antispyware vendors is accepting as members the companies which make the very products that are listed as targets by antispyware scanners. COAST is supposed to be working with these companies to make their software more acceptable, not accept them as members of their own group. This issue came to a head last January after COAST accepted 180solutions as a member.

Does this spell the end for COAST? I believe it does. I predict that there will be more defections, possibly leading to the collapse of the entire organization, within the next week. Even if that does not happen, it will be an antispyware consortium made up largely of adware companies. Whatever happens in the next week, COAST is dead for all intents and purposes.

Does the possible demise of COAST count as a victory for the spyware makers? The answer to that is a solid "no". All of the individual members of COAST continue to make spyware removal scanners. COAST was not the entire antispyware community. To be honest, COAST was never a particularly relevant member of the community. I don't think anyone will miss COAST and I don't imagine that very many will attend the funeral.

Update
PestPatrol has announced that they too will withdraw from COAST.

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Disclaimer: SpywareInfo has an affiliate relationship with Webroot software and formerly had an affiliate relationship with PestPatrol and Aluria Software.

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Program: Registry Mechanic
Author: PCTools
Platform: Windows 9x/ME, NT, 2K, XP
License: Registry Mechanic $29.95 [ http://www.spywareinfoforum.info/newlsetter/rd/regmech2305 ]($10 off for SpywareInfo readers until Feb 9, 2005)
Coupon Code: SPYWAREINFO (Expires Feb 9, 2005. One day left!)

If it has been some time since you last installed Windows, then your computer's registry is probably a horrible mess. Everything you do on your computer leaves traces in the registry, from picking through the start menu, opening program, installing programs and surfing the web. These traces build up over time and fill your registry with unneeded junk.

Even after uninstalling them, many programs leave invalid entries throughout the registry and it is nearly impossible to remove them all. If you ever have had a problem with Windows telling you a file is missing after you restart it, this probably is because of an invalid registry entry.

Registry Mechanic scans your entire registry to find these junk entries. It also checks your shortcuts to find those pointing to non-existent programs. Once it has scanned, it lists every invalid registry entry and every shortcut pointing to a missing file and lets you delete them with the click of a button. Every entry that is removed is backed up, in case you need to restore something. Depending on how long it has been since you installed Windows, you might see a small difference to a dramatic increase in performance and stability.

PCTools has provided a $10.00 discount for Registry Mechanic to all SpywareInfo readers for this week. Be sure you use the coupon code SPYWAREINFO at the checkout page. If you have any problems with the ordering page or with the coupon code (SPYWAREINFO), please email Catherine http://www.spywareinfoforum.info/email2.php.

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I am going back to Washington tonight. The Congressional Internet Caucus is having a "State of the Net Conference" this week and I am attending. I am leaving late tonight (early Tuesday morning) and driving all the way through to Washington. If you see a little red Dodge Neon blazing north on I-95 tonight or tomorrow, wave.

I heard about this conference practically at the last minute, so I've spent most of the last week preparing to leave. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to play around with all of the file sharing programs everyone has written about. Thanks to everyone who wrote in to help me with that. I'll start messing around with those when I am back home.

This is the only newsletter that will be going out this week since I will be in D.C. for most of the week. I should have a new one next week.

On a side note, if anyone knows of a way to keep the car from electrocuting me every time I step out of it and touch metal, I would be most appreciative. "Static Guard" spray obviously doesn't work as advertised. I'm surprised I don't have burn marks on my fingers by now.

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There has been another startling revelation about Sharman Networks and their Kazaa software. Apparently, the program logs information about all user downloads and search queries over the network and transmits that to the company.

In theory, Sharman can do a search for every user and IP address that has downloaded a particular file. If Sharman can do that, then so can anyone who is suing them, such as the RIAA.

Yet another reason to avoid Kazaa like the plague.

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I do not intentionally link to web sites that require registration before allowing visitors to read the article. At the time I read these articles, I was not required to register. If one of these sites requires that you register before allowing you to read the article, please let me know and I will blacklist that site.

http://news4colorado.com/topstories/local_story_034123232.html :: The Displeasure Of Spyware

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/0,39023166,39179933,00.htm :: Our staff hate installing Kazaa: Sharman CTO

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-04-2005/0002950882&EDATE= :: Webroot Resigns From Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology Vendors (COAST)

http://press.arrivenet.com/bus/article.php/580007.html :: Aluria Announces Departure from Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology Vendors (COAST)

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050207/nym203_1.html :: CA Withdraws From Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology Vendors

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/210875_spyware05.html :: Anti-spyware group unravels over direction

http://www.newstarget.com/004145.html :: Congressional committee takes aim at spyware

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002171635_privacy05m.html :: Privacy measure before House exempts parents

http://www.techworld.com/mobility/features/index.cfm?featureid=1178 :: Security issues swamp RFID

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12184495-421,00.html :: Principal spied on teacher in class

http://edmonton.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ed-spam-uofc20050207 :: U of C to offer course in spyware, spam

http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=5&sid=149177 :: Utah Representatives Strengthening Ban on Spyware

http://internet.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/01/31/2121249&tid=144&tid=78 :: Experts predict Firefox spyware will show up this year
(ed. note: I don't see this happening myself. To install software into Firefox without some sort of user prompt currently is impossible. Then again, some spyware coders are pretty clever.... -Mike)

http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/20050207132352528 :: EFF Announces New Privacy Tool

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&e=1&u=/ap/20050204/ap_on_hi_te/aol_spamming :: Ex-AOL Worker Pleads Guilty in Spam Case