Badware is a new type of threat: one that evolves quickly, depends upon the openness of the internet to flourish, and is distributed geographically. StopBadware.org represents a new, community-based approach to addressing this type of threat.

Our work at StopBadware grows out of the research of our co-directors, Harvard Law School professors Jonathan Zittrain and John Palfrey. Professor Zittrain’s work explores the idea of generativity – the openness and flexibility that have driven technological growth and innovation over the last few decades. When users feel that their privacy and security is threatened by badware, a natural response is to try to restrict generativity, threatening the future of online innovation. Professor Palfrey sees a need for online governance that protects users while preserving the unique character of the internet. Palfrey proposes that to address the most highly distributed problems facing the internet, governance should be based on accountability and empowerment of users to control the sources from which they receive information.

Connecting these two ideas is the notion of using the very qualities that have made the internet successful – generativity, collaboration, freedom – to preserve its open nature. StopBadware strives to apply this model by bringing people, resources, and information together in a way that helps users make better decisions to protect themselves from badware threats.

Our approach to the badware problem cuts across national boundaries, and aims to involve a broad base of users of the internet: companies whose businesses depend on a healthy internet; the geeks and techies who invest in the internet by helping to build it; small business owners creating new cottage industries online; and average users for whom the internet has become a crucial path to information, connection and expression. We welcome your input as this effort grows and evolves — check out our page on how you can get more involved here.