Congratulations to StopBadWare, a non-profit that today has spun out of the Berkman Center. StopBadware maintains a database of malware sites from lists contributed by Google and Sunbelt Software, analyzes the data, provides some end-user services, advocates for sensible policies to minimize badware, and resolves disputes about particular listed sites. It is supported primarily by Google, PayPal, and Mozilla.

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The Berkman Centers StopBadware.org today listed RealPlayer 10.5 as badware.

And in almost the same breath, the Center today announced its 10th anniversary conference, May 15-16, at Harvard. It’ll be a splendid, wide-ranging conference followed by a gala party. You’re all invited.

But not you, RealPlayer! You should go to your room and think about what you’ve done!

[Tags: realplayer stopbadware malware berkman@10 ]

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Also at the busy, busy Berkman Center: The first installment of a guide to the law for citizen media creators. Why, you’ll learn enough to be able to sue yourself … and win!

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From StopBadWare:

StopBadware.org, the consumer protection initiative developed to combat badware, today released its report on Sears Holding Corporation’s (SHC) “My SHC Community” software application, finding it to be badware because of inadequate disclosure of extensive tracking and data collection and because the application does not identify itself while running.

Sears has already announced that it’s going to mend its ways. (StopBadWare.org is a project led by the Berkman Center and the Oxford University’s Oxford Internet Institute.)

[Tags: stopbadware malware sears kmart ]

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