Should Spyware be illeagle

I am ambivalent on this. My first reaction was that the government sticks its nose far too much in people's private business, and spyware should not be banned. A good anti-spyware program would take care of the problem nicely.

Thinking it through though, I realized that spyware IS an invasion of a person's privacy. For that reason, it might seem reasonable that spyware is an appropriate matter for the government.

I dunno. I'll have to hear some other points of view, before I make up my mind!

If you're talking about programs put on your computer without your knowledge in order to gain information about you, then of course they should be banned.

I don't know if it should be a sick bird though <grin>

I like the internet being free and open, with gov'ts keeping their noses out of it. At least, theoretically. (Can anyone say Car-ni-vore?)

So I believe that it is each and every user's responsibility to make sure they're protected against mailicous computer use. (And sometimes a little common sense to stay out of those contriversial threads. )

1) "Spyware" that is a user-acknowledged transfer of information will never be illegal and shouldn't be.

By this I reference things like the Google Toolbar or the Alexa toolbar. Both are considered "spyware" by overzealous persons. But both are very upfront about what they do (personally I use them both, I'm not paranoid).

2) The real damaging spyware is already illegal, just like viruses. It'll make precious little difference unless you eliminate the anonymity of the net.