Today, we are announcing a new project — StopBadware.org
— at the Berkman Center, in partnership with the Oxford Internet
Institute and our unpaid special advisors at Consumer Reports Web
Watch.  This is an active research initiative that collects data
and stories from consumers in a  publicly-accessible
clearinghouse, sets forth a series of guidelines for what constitutes
“badware” in our view, and will involve our publication of an ongoing
series of reports about downloadable applications that violate these
guidelines.  We are fortunate to have the support of Google, Sun,
and Lenovo, as well as an exceptional 8-member working group and world-class advisory board.

This project is very much intended as a complement to the many other
good efforts underway to stem the tide of badware, like the work of
TrustE, the AntiSpyware Coalition, researcher Ben Edelman, and many
others in the public and private sectors.