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FYI…
- http://www.techweb.com/article/printableAr…_section=700029
January 23, 2006
"A public policy group filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission Monday against 180solutions and one of its partners, and asked the FTC to shutter one of the adware industry's biggest players. Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) filed a pair of complaints with the FTC, alleging that 180solutions' "core business model depends on third-party affiliates committing unfair and deceptive practices on the company's behalf" and that the free Web hosting provider CJB.net, a 180solutions affiliate, "dupes people into installing 180solutions’ software." The complaint is the biggest move against an adware purveyor since the FTC pulled the plug last November to shut down three adware companies, Enternet Media, Conspy & Co., and Networld One… The CDT said it had been working with 180solutions for more than two years to address concerns, but that progress stalled as complaints about the firm kept pouring in… "That's what I think is so important about this complaint, that there's a fundamental problem in their business model," said Eric Howes, the director of malware research at anti-spyware software maker Sunbelt Software, and one several researchers cited by the CDT for helping it investigate 180solutions' adware practices. "I told them the same thing last fall, and their response was unambiguous," said Howes. "'No, we won't change,' that's what they said." Howes also backed up the CDT's contention that 180solutions was masking deceptive practices with public pronouncements that it was changing how its ads were placed and how its affiliates were policed…"
- http://www.techweb.com/article/printableAr…_section=700029
January 23, 2006
"A public policy group filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission Monday against 180solutions and one of its partners, and asked the FTC to shutter one of the adware industry's biggest players. Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) filed a pair of complaints with the FTC, alleging that 180solutions' "core business model depends on third-party affiliates committing unfair and deceptive practices on the company's behalf" and that the free Web hosting provider CJB.net, a 180solutions affiliate, "dupes people into installing 180solutions’ software." The complaint is the biggest move against an adware purveyor since the FTC pulled the plug last November to shut down three adware companies, Enternet Media, Conspy & Co., and Networld One… The CDT said it had been working with 180solutions for more than two years to address concerns, but that progress stalled as complaints about the firm kept pouring in… "That's what I think is so important about this complaint, that there's a fundamental problem in their business model," said Eric Howes, the director of malware research at anti-spyware software maker Sunbelt Software, and one several researchers cited by the CDT for helping it investigate 180solutions' adware practices. "I told them the same thing last fall, and their response was unambiguous," said Howes. "'No, we won't change,' that's what they said." Howes also backed up the CDT's contention that 180solutions was masking deceptive practices with public pronouncements that it was changing how its ads were placed and how its affiliates were policed…"