Competition among companies means you have to hang on to your customers and this requires knowing more about what the customer does with your product, or service, and how can this knowledge help you sell them more stuff at a good price so they don't leave you for the competition.

The technological environment continues to move at a fast pace and means that it is possible for companies to use certain advanced technology to allow them to do things that customers might not think possible, or might not even consider - so the spying , in a way, becomes easy cause the customers don't even understand how they could be spied on.

WTGR

from  www.antispywarecoalition.org/documents/definitions.htm
of the Anti Spyware Coalition
permission to quote given by Ross Schulman of the CDT, June 16th, 2006.
Copies of emails kept in the permissions binder.

Mari-Lem De Guzman,  in COMPUTERWORLD (www.ITworldcanada.com) June 9, 2006

Guzman reported on a workshop sponsored by the Anti-Spyware Coalition meeting in Ottawa in May 2006..

From their site  www.antispywarecoalition.org
"The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC) is a group dedicated to building a consensus about definitions and best practices in the debate surrounding spyware and other potentially unwanted technologies."

"The Center for Democracy and Technology coordinates the Anti-Spyware Coalition. Anti-spyware companies or public interest groups interested in joining the Coalition should contact 
Ari Schwartz, CDT Associate Director at asc@cdt.org or at 202-637-9800"

Glossary

Gianmarco (John) R. in MGD415 in March 2009 was very interested in the topic of spyware and did some digging on his own and sent the following email. John sent the pic to the left of the car he'll buy with the dot.com job he gets when he finishes UTM - everybody has a right to dream ....

John explains This article examines the misuse of Digital Rights Management (DRM) a technology owned by Sony BMG Music Entertainment that initially was intended to prevent listeners from making copies of the CDs they purchased.  But what actually occurred is that aside from not allowing purchasers from copying CDs the software had a hidden purpose that was added on at the purchaser's expense.   When a Sony music CD is played in a computer, mysterious files that resemble a rootkit is installed in the user?s computer. The purpose of a rootkit is to hide something else, tricking an operating system making it unable to detect worms, viruses and other file that a
hacker wants to hide inside someone else's computer. If customers tried to remove this malware software from their computer the CD drive would disable.

When Spyware cause "extra" problems

John adds  Every computer that hade been used to play a Sony BMG disc was open to
worms, viruses and other spyware. This spyware secretly contacted Sony BMG via internet every time a PC user played a copy-protected disc even though the original purpose was to hide software stopping users for making copies of their music. This spyware would track people's personal information and addresses and let Sony know if the users are ripping digitally protected disks. 

Sony's BMG rootkit became the public symbol of mistrust between the public views about DRM and media companies toward their customers. This turned into a full -blown scandal, full of backroom negotiations, denials and vengeful lawsuits. Although Sony insisted that the rootkit was not deliberatively positioned, their unethical actions persuaded  many observers that the music industry is using deception as a component of digital right management. Once the rootkit is installed on a customer PC it could open passage to other viruses and Trojan horse programs. It was a Troj/Stinx-E designed to hide itself inside the rootkit and allow other programs to take over user?s computers via connections to an instant-messaging system called Relay Chat.

Although Sony tried to settle the matter with US District Court for southern New York by providing every individual who owed a disc with XCP with a replacement disc of $7.50 cash payment, it did not settle the customers' uneasiness with the fact Sony BMG concealed its presence.  They felt Sony trespassed on fundamental protections - the
right to privacy and private ownership and the freedoms of expression and access to information 

WTGR adds, the scandal that John discusses became so "famous" that it has its own page on Wikipedia - you can read more here at
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal