Ed Bott has some excellent questions about and recommendations for Microsoft's anti-spyware policies (Dear Microsoft: Why Should We Trust You to Detect Spyware?).

• Publish the Windows AntiSpyware database. Put it on the Web. Make it searchable. Provide a description of why each product is listed, how it's classified, and what the recommended action is. Include a change log to document when classifications and recommendations change and why. Make the review process public. Ben Edelman has made this suggestion before, and I agree with it.
• Release control of the detection database to a truly neutral third party. If Microsoft controls the contents of the database, it will never be able to overcome the perception that it is basing its decisions on criteria related to profit and not on user needs. Create a nonprofit organization with an independent board of directors and well-qualified management, give it a charter, fund it through an endowment, and agree to indemnify it for any legal costs related to complaints over classification. Let that group build a spyware classification system using published criteria and feedback from customers. Publish the database under a Creative Commons license. If the organization providing this database has no commercial interest to provide a potential conflict of interest, the Clarias of the world would have quite a burden to overcome before they could establish that they're being unfairly targeted.

[emphasis in original]