Barbarians at the Digital Gate (2004)

Claria alone has about 29 million users running its adware products on their computers, according to comScore MediaMetrix, an Internet research firm. Some spyware creeps onto a computer’s hard drive unannounced, often by piggybacking onto other software programs that people download or by sneaking through backdoor security gaps in Web browsers when consumers visit certain sites. Spyware Labs Inc., a Hawaiian company, promotes itself as a vendor of anti-spyware tools but peddles a product called Virtual Bouncer that experts like Mr. Porter say functions as spyware and adware once it is installed on a computer.

Source: archive.nytimes.com