| Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering
information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the Internet (where it is sometimes called a spybot
or tracking software), spyware is programming that is put in someone's computer to secretly gather information about
the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties. Spyware can get in a computer as a software virus or as the result of installing a new program.
Data collecting programs that are installed with the user's knowledge are not, properly speaking, spyware,
if the user fully understands what data is being collected and with whom it is being shared. However, spyware is often installed
without the user's consent, as a drive-by download, or as the result of clicking some option in a deceptive pop-up window. adware, software designed to serve advertising, can usually be thought of as spyware as well because it almost
invariably includes components for tracking and reporting user information.
The cookie is a well-known mechanism for storing information about an Internet user on their own computer. However,
the existence of cookies and their use is generally not concealed from users, who can also disallow access to cookie information.
Nevertheless, to the extent that a Web site stores information about you in a cookie that you don't know about, the cookie
mechanism could be considered a form of spyware.
Spyware is part of an overall public concern about privacy on the Internet.
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