Is it Sana's policy to alert the user to the presence of any spyware or keystroke logger, even if it is installed by a police or intelligence agency?
Gorelik: Absolutely! For the reason stated above.
Have you ever received such a court order signed by a judge requiring you to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in terms of not detecting government-installed spyware or delivering government spyware to your users?
Gorelik: The short answer is "No." Actually, I don't think there is a longer answer.
Sophos
Response from Ron O'Brien, senior security analyst at Sophos, which says its enterprise and small business products do a superior job of protecting against viruses, spyware, adware, hackers, spam and malicious Web sites.
Has Sophos ever had any discussions with any government agency about not detecting spyware or keystroke loggers installed by a police or intelligence agency?
O'Brien: No.
Is it Sophos policy to alert the user to the presence of any spyware or keystroke logger, even if it is installed by a police or intelligence agency?
O'Brien: Yes. See this Sophos statement that was made in 2001. Sophos has not been asked to turn off detection of any spyware, viruses, worms or Trojan horses by any intelligence agency around the world and continues to believe that detection of all such malware is important to our users.
(Editor's note: During a follow-up conversation, Sophos added that it would still stand by that statement today if approached by law enforcement or intelligence agencies and asked to change its policies.)
Have you ever received such a court order signed by a judge requiring you to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in terms of not detecting government-installed spyware or delivering government spyware to your users?
O'Brien: No, we have not received an order from a judge instructing us not to disclose the presence of a keylogger.
Symantec
Response from Cris Paden, manager of corporate public relations at Symantec, one of the world's largest computer security companies. Symantec sells a range of products including the Norton series for home use, and a long list of options for business customers.
Have you ever had any discussions with any government agency, not counting conversations related to a lawful court order signed by a judge, about not detecting spyware or keystroke loggers installed by a police or intelligence agency?
Paden: No, we have not had any discussions along those lines with any law enforcement agencies.
Is it your policy to alert the user to the presence of any spyware or keystroke logger, even if it is installed by a police or intelligence agency in the absence of a lawful court order signed by a judge?
Paden: Yes, barring a court order to cooperate with law enforcement authorities, Symantec would definitely alert our customers to the presence of any malicious code or programs that we detect on their systems. Symantec makes no differentiation from where an attack originates. If they are a customer of ours, we will alert them to all threats, regardless of where they come from.
Have you ever received such a court order signed by a judge requiring you to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in terms of not detecting government-installed spyware or delivering government spyware to your users?
Paden: Absolutely not. We have never received such an order or even a request.
Trend Micro
Response from Mike Haro, a representative of Trend Micro, which has its headquarters in Tokyo and an office in Cupertino, California. Trend Micro's products for home use include Trend Micro Internet Security 2007, which offers antivirus and antispyware protection.
Have you ever had any discussions with any government agency, not counting conversations related to a lawful court order signed by a judge, about not detecting spyware or keystroke loggers installed by a police or intelligence agency?
Is it your policy to alert the user to the presence of any spyware or keystroke logger, even if it is installed by a police or intelligence agency in the absence of a lawful court order signed by a judge?
Haro: We still prefer not to comment on our communication and policies for communicating with government agencies and government customers.
However, we can comment on your specific question: "Is it your policy to alert the user to the presence of any spyware or keystroke logger, even if it is installed by a police or intelligence agency in the absence of a lawful court order signed by a judge?"
Our answer is "yes".
Have you ever received such a court order signed by a judge requiring you to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in terms of not detecting government-installed spyware or delivering government spyware to your users?
Haro: (Editor's note: No answer as of Monday evening in the US.)
Websense
Response from Dan Hubbard, Websense's vice president of security research. Websense started out as an Internet porn-filtering company and still sells Websense Enterprise, which the company calls the "world's leading Web filtering solution". It also sells spyware detection software.
Has Websense ever had any discussions with any government agency about not detecting spyware or keystroke loggers installed by a police or intelligence agency?
Is it Websnese policy to alert the user to the presence of any spyware or keystroke logger, even if it is installed by a police or intelligence agency?
Hubbard: Our customers decide whether to block or allow such code. Websense detects malware irrespective of its source. Websense detects malware based on the behaviour and perceived intent of the code.
Have you ever received such a court order signed by a judge requiring you to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in terms of not detecting government-installed spyware or delivering government spyware to your users?
Hubbard: We have never received such a court order.
I may well be completely wrong here but it is my sincere feeling/position that while the Internet was apparently first concieved in the US,that doesn't give the US government any right to claim ownership.Nor any other government either..I abhor the arrogance and self-centredness of the US laying claim to anything and everything with their "Our way or the highway" attitudes.The Internet is there for everyone to use that pays for the service and we ought to be able to go where we wish,do what we wish with confidence and the protections we pay for from on-line security firms.I've never visited any of the available porn sites and don't intend to,never done any gambling or anything else that I feel is distasteful,including the thousands of chatrooms.Being nearly 70 and having had a computer since 1981 before there was an Internet,it is ghastly to me that any "government" could/would have/seize the right to SPY on any of my activities.To me,most all of the problems throughout the world today,including the Internet are all laying at the feet of the disgusting US Administration.If they would stick to their own shores,mind their own damned business,we would not BE in the terrible situations we're in today..