Lawsuits have been filed against antispyware software vendor Secure Computer by Microsoft and the Washington state attorney general, alleging that the company's Spyware Cleaner software fails to do what it says on the tin (i.e. remove spyware as advertised) and that it makes changes to users' computers that renders them less secure.
Washington's 16-count lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, and follows investigations by both Microsoft and the Attorney General's High Tech Fraud Unit. In addition to the Spyware Act violations, the lawsuit accuses Secure Computer of violating the state's Commercial Electronic Mail and Consumer Protection Acts, as well as the federal CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) Act, said Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna in an interview.
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna has said that Secure Computer has been marketing its Spyware Cleaner product using false and misleading means, and that the company has also corrupted computer users' hard drives as a result of the so-called free scan that they offered to consumers.