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In the digital age, there are few black-and-white rules. Rather, we live in an era of gray when it comes to technology and the law.

A federal case recently dismissed before it reached trial is the latest example. And while it provides no definitive conclusions on where tech law is heading, it does raise interesting questions.

The case was filed by Naperville, Ill., attorney Shawn Collins against a Washington software company that he alleges puts spyware on computers without a user's consent.

Collins, who wanted this to be a class-action lawsuit, believes Zango's software trespasses upon and pollutes computers, much like industrial firms have been caught polluting water supplies.

In its defense, Zango hired the Chicago firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, a pioneer in tech law that counts Microsoft Corp. among its clients.

Collins couldn't make his case, and the suit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be pursued further. Zango claimed a big victory, saying it proved it is not a spyware provider.

Zango sells ads. And thousands of people willingly sign up for its service every day, much as they buy goods at Amazon, Apple's iTunes store or register at a newspaper's Web site.

In all of these examples, we have agreed to put cookies on our computers to track our surfing habits. These cookies feed us ads when we enter certain key words, or they remember the last song we downloaded or book we purchased so they can offer something new we may like the next time we visit.

We don't consider these companies spyware firms.

Zango offers free screensavers and computer games in exchange for a user agreeing to accept additional software that will serve ads based on where the user goes online.

If you haven't noticed lately, online advertising is getting to be a pretty big business. And perhaps you haven't noticed the number of cookies stored on your computer lately. I counted more than 1,000 on my machine.

Each one has a little bit of data that tells a marketer something about where I've been and where I may go next.

So where is the line drawn? Are some companies unfairly painted as violating our privacy and polluting our computers?

"I can't give you a definition of spyware that is universally accepted. Even the courts have trouble with that," said Floyd Mandell, a partner with Katten Muchin Rosenman.