A new watchdog group plans on collecting information about spyware companies and being a clearinghouse of information about “badware and the bad actors who spread it.”  The Stop Badware Coalition describes themselves as a “Neighborhood Watch” campaign whose information will allow consumers to make educated choices about what programs they download on to their computers.  

     Led by the Harvard Law School Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Oxford University Internet Institute, the groups also enjoys corporate support from the likes of Google, Lenovo, and Sun Microsystems.   

     The Washington Post also reports  that:

The group also will spotlight firms that make the software in an effort to shame them and will gather data that could lay the groundwork for class-action lawsuits against them.

     Keep an eye on this one.  It could be a good example of how intangible reputation risk translates into legal risk and very tangible legal costs.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2006 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Business Blind Spots, Costs, Ethics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.