Court Orders Halt to Sale of Spyware

As reported in the November 17, 2008 news release by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. District Court Judge, following the EPIC complaint, has issued a temporary restraining order halting the sale of keylogger spyware. According to the FTC's complaint,

...the Florida-based CyberSpy software, LLC marketed and sold RemoteSpy keylogger spyware to clients who would then secretly monitor unsuspecting consumer's computers.

... the defendants violated the FTC Act by engaging in the unfair advertising and selling of software that could be: (1) deployed remotely by someone other than the owner or authorized user of a computer; (2) installed without the knowledge and consent of the owner or authorized user; and (3) used to surreptitiously collect and disclose personal information.

The FTC seeks to permanently bar the unfair and deceptive practices and require the defendants to give up their ill-gotten gains. The complaint for permanent injunction and other equitable relief is available here.