How to stop spyware

[freakedman]

Here is a study on spyware
https://seclab.cs.ucsb.edu/media/upl...cookieless.pdf
and the Iesnare patent application:
https://www.google.com/patents/US20080040802

I have read both the study and the study linked patent.

The most worrying part of the study is the bottom row of table 1 on page 3. It seems that the companies can read our hardware details, such as “driver enumeration” and “device identifiers”. The “SFP” next to these indicates that they read the hard drive data from a plugin only. How do I stop these plugins from reaching my device?

The study also covers 2 more companies; BlueCava and ThreatMetrix. Should we take further steps to protect ourselves from these?

In the study linked patent, the following is the most interesting paragraph. The “client” referred to is the program that runs code to spy on us;

“The client may also be delivered through a stand-alone application, imbedded within a common software product like a web browser, or even imbedded in hardware or memory, any of which would be required to be running when a connection to a network is authenticated by a network service provider protected by this system. The client could also be delivered on demand, through a JavaScript, ActiveX control, or similar technology as a user connects to a network service provider through their favorite web browser.”

Can we stop the “client from being delivered” (stop the program getting on my device)?

Another interesting piece is
“The method also generates a Network Device Fingerprint (NDF) for each device by unobtrusively gathering information about the device, such as hardware serial numbers, software serial numbers, install dates”

How can they get this information? Can we stop them from getting it or change the information?

[DanRaisch]

Moving to MozillaZine Tech as this is not a Firefox Support issue.

[freakedman]

Ok I will simplify the question.

I have read that some scripts can be run through active content such as javascript or flash and get hardware information including install dates and serial numbers.

Is this possible, and if so how can I defend it?