The FTC is requesting Congress look at increasing jail sentences for spyware companies, authors, and distributors. The FTC also wants civil penalty authority to go after these coompanies themselves.

Testimony from FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras revealed that in the last two years, the Commission has taken action against 11 spyware operators. Think about that number for a moment, and then think about the sheer amount of spyware in the wild. Despite the plague of software that continues to annoy grandparents, uncles, parents, and the occasional geek, the FTC has gone after an average of 5.5 spyware operators a year. Fortunately, it has had some notable successes, most recently a $1.5 million fine against Direct Revenue that will hopefully strike a bit of fear into other US-based adware companies.

But there’s no denying that progress has been slow. In questions after the testimony, Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor told the commissioners that spyware was “a real source of frustration for my family, my constituents, my office.” He also questioned whether the FTC’s remedies were sufficient, given that the fines paid by companies often seem to be only a small portion of their total revenues. The FTC response illustrated how complicated it can be to pursue these companies. “It’s hard to determine what the injury is to each consumer,” said Commissioner Jon Leibowitz, who also pointed out how difficult it was to decide how much revenue a company earned from impermissible conduct, and how much from legal conduct.

It is upsetting that the government hasn’t done more to prevent spyware and adware. The same thing happened with spam and now it’s out of control. Spyware and adware is getting to that point on Windows now. Some say it’s already uncontrollable.

FTC to Congress: Spyware purveyors need to do hard time

[tags]spyware, malware, security, congresss, ftc[/tags]