Personally I think Spyware is a crime no matter what the purpose the data is used for. Spyware is theft plain and simple. It steals your bandwidth, your processor, your hard drive space, often completely without any form of permission and sometimes in defiance of a stated refusal to download the spyware. I've seen Spyware circumvent firewalls, opening holes that any hacker could easily exploit. If the DMCA makes it possible to prosecute anyone who makes tools to circumvent copy protection, why can we not have a law that makes circumventing spyware and popup blockers illegal? Their tricker is making systems vulnerable to malicious exploitation. I've seen one spyware program that lurks on your system for no other purpose than to allow those that control it free access to download their crap onto your system. And if they can, it's a short step before anyone can download and run whatever virus they want to spread. If I had my way spyware would be a capital offense. Or at least good for some time getting a good solid caning.