Privacy-invasive software, loosely labelled spyware, is an increasingly common problem for today’s computer users, one to
which there is no absolute cure. Most privacy-invasive software is positioned in a legal grey zone, as the user accepts the
malicious behaviour when agreeing to the End User License Agreement. This paper proposes the use of a specialized reputation
system to gather and share information regarding software behaviour between community users. A client application helps guide
the user at the point of executing software on the local computer, displaying other users’ feedback about the expected behaviour
of the software. We discuss important aspects to consider when constructing such a system, and propose possible solutions.
Based on the observations made, we implemented a client/server based proof-of-concept tool, which allowed us to demonstrate
how such a system would work. We also compare this solution to other, more conventional, protection methods such as anti-virus
and anti-spyware software.
Keywords Information security - malware prevention - reputation systems