In a bold move, the Federal Trace Commission has temporarily shut down a software vendor that used allegedly false scare tactics to build up sales. Bold, that is, if they had taken the action, oh say, five years earlier. The FTC says that the makers of the product Spyware Assassin tried to scare consumers into buying software through a variety of pop-up ads and e-mails that warned consumers their computers had been infected with malicious monitoring software. The company, MaxTheater, produced evidence of spyware even on systems that were clean and, even more galling, its $30 program did nothing to actually remove any spyware. It’s a little like the exterminator that crawls under your house, comes up with a board covered with bugs, then sprays with water and hands you a hefty bill. A U.S. court has ordered the company to suspend its activities until a court hearing on Tuesday. The court could compel the company to give back all the money it made from selling Spyware Assassin. The FTC also recently issued a report that boldly – there’s that word again – identifies spyware as “a real and growing” problem. To repeat: bold, that is, if they had taken the action five years earlier. Several months after holding a spyware workshop, the FTC released a report with the findings and a transcript of the workshop. The report recommends government and industry actions and asks the business community to come up with a working definition of spyware, to distinguish it from adware. It’s a start. Technology Industry