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$2 Million in fines for fraudulent anti-spyware companies
"Two operations that promoted spyware detection products by making bogus claims have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that their claims were deceptive and violated federal law," said the FTC. "The settlements require the defendants to give up a total of nearly $2m in ill-gotten gains, and prohibit deceptive claims."
The other member of this hefty fine is “MaxTheater”, company behind “Spyware Assassin”, who will be paying a fractional amount of that $2 Million, for similar tactics. The conditions of the settlement also require both companies from “making deceptive claims”. Basically, no more fear-mongering, though there is so much of that on the net to begin with that it's really a drop in the bucket.
User Comments: 12
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This is definitely a move in the right direction.False advertising should be punished.I find it a bit amusing that the mentioned companies almost two million dollars using such a pathetic method, but hey, some spammers make big bucks with their totally bogus penis enlargement letters...
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Thank god for this. I deal everyday with people who fall for this B.S.
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MMH, I think 2million is not enough. They should be fined much bigger.
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The question now is......due to the deceptive practices by these two, and whether or not the actual software is effective, would you still want to use 'Spyware Assassin' and 'SpyKiller'?? Did they shoot themselves in the foot?I've run into these spyware pop-ups numerous times. Another that seems to appear frequently are the 'Your Registry Needs Cleaning', or similar pop-ups. They can look fairly convincing to the un-suspecting web user.
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I especially hate the ones that come up with what appears to be a "close" button embedded in the ad. Someone who didnt know better would use that instead of the windows "x" button to close out. I really hate the ads that cover up part of your screen with the "close - [x]" button. Call me paranoid but I rather refresh the page than close it by clicking on the ad in any way.I'm not a big fan of freeware that tries to sell itself to me. If I hear about great freeware through a friend, or a site I trust then I use it. But when ads pop up advertising free software, cheap software or otherwise software that I have never heard of before I steer in the opposite direction.Nothing in life is ever free, and there is usually a catch. Good to see these companies foul deeds uncovered and action taken against them!
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We have to deal this spyware and adware already. But now the companies that are supposed to be protecting us... have turned against us? AH! There is no God! *Junps out the window and promtly dies* Just joking. But seriously, this is disturbing to say the least.
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I worked previously for a dot com company that mainly used online marketing. A lot of the time the problem actually is the online marketing company and not necessarily the company being advertised. We had to fire numerous online marketers for SPAMing and inescapable ads. One of the ads would actually launch the website on mouseover of the "Close - [X]" button. However the company being advertised needs to pay close attention. They're just as at fault as the advertiser if they knowingly allow such practices.
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Yup, many times the advertisement itself is not the perpetuatot, but the marketing company presenting the advertisement. And to those who say they will never buy products because they use tactics like this, in this example SpyKiller and Spyware Assassin... well, be careful.For example, I hope many have heard the notorious Gator company. It used to hide behind softwares and install itself with or without the user's consent. Remember, this was back when spywares weren't very well-known. The incomes for Gator was crazy that everyone in Gator had smiles bigger than the Joker in Batman. Then people realized how Gator was tracking users' movements, etc. etc. typical spyware stuff. It had a pretty big uproar and the company was taking a nosedive.So, what did Gator do? It performed a makeover; it changed its name to Claria since Gator is attached with a big negative connotation. Its motto is now "A leader in online behavioral marketing." Right, you mean tracking down my online usage and recording my personal info? Oh man, that sounds just like Gator! Fancy that!The moral of the story is to be careful of new companies like Claria. With stipulation of paying fines, online marketing companies like Claria (Gator) will often just change their names and pretend to be a "legit" marketing company. And really, $2 million in fines is just not enough, considering how much money those annoying pop-ups bring them. The punishment should be much more severe, and perhaps some way to prevent them from simply relabeling the company and continuing the same work as before.
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Don't forget you can't get blood from a stone, if the courts assessed a $2m fine, that's all the courts figured they deserved to (or were able to) pay.It's sad in a way, that the courts can hammer down these spyware companies for poping a few phoney advertisements. Yet they seemingly do nothing to stop the flood of penis enlargement/counterfeit software spam from innundating the email inbox of every single internet user. Nor do they put much pressure on the phishing emails, or any other internet scam, which can really ruin a person's finances.I guess we should be happy though, at least no one else is going to try this crap.
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i definately agree with this ruling. The fake companies are the ones that most like make the spyware and are now making you pay to get rid of them.
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What's more ridiculous about all this is that anti-spyware software is being advertised on pop-ups, which usually contain spyware. That I find disturbing.
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Well, its all part of a bigger picture, if you look at it that way. I know that I've experienced these enticing pop ups, and it is very decieving. I'm sure that numerous amounts of consumers bought this software under these terms, and I think they should be giving the money back to the consumer, instead of paying the fine to the Federal Trade Commission.
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