. . . continued from Hot News A child can browse to these attractive web sites, play the innocent games, have a lot of fun and click everything in sight. That's right. I said "click everything in sight." In order to play games online on a web site of course a kid has to click things. The problems arise when it is later discovered that some of those clicks resulted in the installation of spyware. Is there no shame left anywhere? Is there no bowel too vile for the perpetrators of this idiocy to eschew? Is there a depth below which these charlatans will not drop in order to install their squalid trash? Apparently not. It works like this: A kid surfs to a site. During the course of playing online, one of the objects or actions clicked is actually programmed to silently install spyware. A silent installation is one that does not present the computer user with any visible sign that something is being installed. You can thank Microsoft for that bit of magic. Instantly, or almost instantly, the spyware communicates with its home server and voila! Garbage begins streaming into the computer: pop-ups, ads, entreaties, enticements and you-name-it.

A silent installation is one that does not present the computer user with any visible sign that something is being installed. You can thank Microsoft for that bit of magic.

The most insidiously arrogant thing about this particular approach to sypware is that the ads and other garbage aren't aimed at the kids. No way. All of this garbage is aimed at the owner of the computer—the parents! Of course.

I guarantee it will take you days, even with the help of utilities such as AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy, to clean out an infected computer.

I want a sit down with one of the perpetrators of this idiocy. I want to look into his eyes when I tell him how base, vile and unconscionable it is to use children's activities in this manner. I want to provide him with some perspective on the issue. Using children as mules to haul around garbage is beyond outrageous.

In the meantime, if you come across any of these sites—I'd provide a list right here, but they shift around so much they're almost impossible to track—do the right thing. Call or e-mail the company that's hosting the site and give them a piece of your mind. Call or e-mail the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and tell them about your concerns.

The Internet is as rife with this unmitigated drek as it is with unassailably useful brilliance. But we must never let the thieves and charlatans overawe what we know is a great concept and vision. While the Internet remains one of the most liberating inventions of the modern era, there are those who would subvert it—who would deliberately sacrifice its foundations merely for self-aggrandizing gain. We must never let that happen.

The very next software purchase you make should be a couple of good antispyware programs. Do it. You won't be sorry!

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