Underwriters Google, Sun Microsystems and Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group are backing StopBadware.org, which is designed to ultimately identify purveyors of such programs by name and provide information to help consumers decide whether a program is safe to download.
StopBadware.org will name the program’s developers and distributors, as well as companies that use such platforms to run ads. The site also will identify any free games, screensavers and other programs known to attach spyware or adware to their downloads.
Most of the details on StopBadware have not yet been announced; however the website will be maintained by researchers from Harvard and Oxford universities, who will post reports on applications that contain viruses and worms as well as software deemed by tests to be safe.
Initially, the site will post its criteria. Developers will be told, for example, that the site will expose as transgressors any programs that exploit a computer “for any purpose not understood and affirmatively consented to by the end user.”
The nonprofit Consumer Reports WebWatch is serving as an unpaid adviser.