StopBadware Stories encourages people to share their experiences with badware
Cambridge, Mass., April 20, 2010: StopBadware, a non-profit organization that fights computer viruses, spyware, and other badware, announced today the launch of StopBadware Stories, a project to collect and share stories about the effects of badware on people’s lives.
StopBadware defines badware as software that fundamentally disregards a user’s choice about how his or her computer or network connection will be used. Badware includes hidden programs that steal users’ bank account information, downloads that install additional software without the user’s permission, and fake anti-virus applications that present false results to trick users into buying useless or dangerous software.
The StopBadware Stories project is part of an effort to raise awareness of badware as a problem that affects, and is affected by, individual Internet users. There is a perception that badware is just a computer problem, one that can be solved with better technology, said Maxim Weinstein, executive director of StopBadware. The truth is that it is a very human problem. The effects on people’s lives, on businesses’ profits, and on national security are real and extend well beyond the desktop. We hope that these stories will open people’s eyes to the importance of us all working together to combat badware.
StopBadware Stories is an extension of the organization’s online community, BadwareBusters.org, which serves as a forum for people to request help and to discuss ways of combating badware. The site now allows users to submit stories combining text, images, and video. Visitors can browse, rate, comment on, and share each others’ stories. Authors are asked to agree to a Creative Commons license that allows their stories to be remixed, reused, or redistributed for non-commercial use. StopBadware hopes this will expand the creative opportunities for storytellers and broaden the reach of the project’s educational message. That message will also be reinforced through links to information about fighting badware that appear alongside the stories.
The project’s home page can be found at http://badwarebusters.org/stories.
About StopBadware
StopBadware is a non-profit organization that works with its network of individuals and partner organizations including Google, PayPal, and Mozilla to fight back against viruses, spyware, and other badware. The organization began as a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University before spinning off as a standalone organization in 2010. It is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
