The US government has moved for the first time to block unsolicited circulation on the Internet of spyware, a type of software that can inundate Web users with pop-up ads, secretly take control of their computers and spy on their online activities.
The Federal Trade Commission announced on Tuesday that it had used existing fair trade laws in asking a federal court to shut down some of the leading distributors of this cyberspace tool.
"Consumers don't deserve to be pestered and spied on by people who illegally hijack their computers," said Lydia Parnes, acting director of the commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
"Were putting purveyors of spyware on notice: This is our first spyware case, but it won't be our last," she said.
According to legal experts, there is no guarantee the trade legislation would be enough to clean the Internet of the scourge of spyware that experts say can cause computers to malfunction, slow down and even crash.
But US officials are said to be emboldened by recent advances of anti-spyware legislation in Congress and growing consumer sentiment in favor of curbing the practice.
The lawsuit targets Seismic Entertainment Productions, a Rochester, New Hampshire-based company, Smartbot.Net, a firm from Richboro, Pennsylvania, and the man behind them, Sanford Wallace.
Riding the wave of popular alarm over misuse of the Internet, the US House of Representatives last week approved the so-called Spy Act requiring that consumers receive a clear and conspicuous notice before any spyware downloads.
The measure prohibits deceptive behavior such as key-stroke logging, computer hijacking, phishing and pop-up ads that cannot be closed.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
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