A bit of very heartening news came out earlier this week that went largely unnoticed. That joyous news was that one fairly well-known advertising company, notorious for peddling and pushing spyware, decided to cut and run, closing their business down. After they were slapped with a massive penalty for the FTC, rather than risk going back into the same business which got them in trouble in the first place, they decided to take the money they had left and shut down,
They still made a significant amount - estimated at over $20 million - so it is not like they are hurting. However, it's still a nice example of the increasing disdain for "grey" companies. Unfortunately, they might just open up under a new name - management for the company did not rule it out. Hopefully, however, they'll be happy with what they had and keep their doors closed.
Now if only all spyware companies would follow suit.