How Did Spyware Begin And Who Created The First Tool To Remove It?

The first known usage of the term ’spyware’, as far as I am aware, was back in October of 1994. On the 17th of that month the phrase cropped up in a posting made on Usenet, a globally distributed bulletin board system. http://www.flickr.com/photos/anylorak/3550635479/ Several years later, in 2000, Steve Gibson, owner of Gibson Research (a computer software development firm), discovered that advertising software components from two companies had been installed onto his system and he suspected them of collecting information without his knowledge. Later on he would retract that claim but he still reprimanded the advertising companies Aureate and Conducent for secretly installing spyware and giving him a hard time to remove it.

See original here:
How Did Spyware Begin And Who Created The First Tool To Remove It?