The Anti-Spyware Coalition, headed by the Center for Democracy and Technology and founded some six months ago, released guidelines Thursday for assessing the level of risk posed by spyware and other potentially unwanted programs, reports MediaPost. "The risk factors have general weights (high, medium, and low) that help show the relative impact to the user," states the document. "Although all behaviors can be problematic if unauthorized, certain ones tend to have a greater impact and are treated with more severity than others."

The organization is accepting public comments on the guidelines through November 27.