War On Scumware Continues
Published: Saturday, July 02, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
WAR ON SCUMWARE CONTINUES
Intermix Media to pay $7.5 million fine, and Mercedes puts on the brakes
The Associated Press wire service brought the scumware issue front-and-centre
again this week with a report that posed the key question "....so why do
marketers use pop-ups when they must know it alienates the very people they are
trying to convince to buy their wares?"
The report quoted a former corporate executive, saying "It irritates the
heck out of me. It (uninvited adware) took a week to take off every little piece
of crap that was put on my computer. Every time I rebooted, it started to come
up again."
Pop-up ads carried by spyware and adware aren't just employed by fringe companies
hawking dubious wares, the report goes on. Big tech companies are counted among
its users, including broadband phone provider Vonage Holdings Corp., online employment
agency Monster Worldwide Inc. and online travel agencies Expedia Inc., Priceline.com
Inc. and Orbitz LLC.
These companies acknowledge they've used adware to reach potential customers,
though they say they shun any (spyware) programs that monitor online surfing or
extract personal information.
Even Fortune 500 companies have turned to adware: Sprint Corp. for its PCS mobile
phones, major banks peddling Visa credit cards, Sony Corp. and retailers including
Circuit City Stores Inc.
And Mercedes-Benz USA had its cars flashing on consumer's computer screens before
the company, fielding complaints, put on the brakes.
Spyware and adware often land on computers without their owners' full knowledge,
hitching a ride during visits to porn and gambling sites or in downloads of free
games and screensavers. Often, the payload arrives with downloads of cartoon-character
wares aimed at children.
Infected computer users can get barraged with pop-up ads and find the unwanted
programs difficult to remove.
So far, law enforcement has mostly targeted the transmitters. Intermix Media Inc.
has agreed to pay $7.5 million in a tentative settlement of a lawsuit by New York
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
But Spitzer isn't stopping there. He is threatening to hold accountable household-name
advertisers that use adware networks. No longer, says Spitzer, can companies play
dumb.
That's making many advertisers nervous, though they insist they work with subcontractors
and often don't know about any adware use until they get a complaint.
"There's plausible deniability at each tier," said Chris King, product
marketing manager at anti-spyware vendor Blue Coat Systems Inc.
Big-time online advertising is built on layers: A big advertiser, such as a Fortune
500 company, directs an agency to handle a campaign. The agency then farms that
message out to specialists in various media, which can include spyware and adware
purveyors.
"We do everything we can to make sure our partners adhere to our standards,"
said Jeffrey Citron, Vonage's chief executive.
Yet a pop-up ad for Vonage appeared in a screen shot that Spitzer used in his
case against Intermix. Citron said he was unaware of the ad and promised to look
into it, as he said the company does with similar complaints.
Mercedes-Benz says its ad was carried to hard drives last year by an agency it
has since fired, while computer maker Dell USA has fired "a handful"
of affiliates for carrying Dell's coupons and ads over adware.
"This is not a practice we condone," said Dell spokeswoman Jennifer
Davis.
Dave Methvin, chief technology officer with tech diagnostic site PC Pitstop, said
problems are no surprise given the many layers involved, but big advertisers have
the clout to stop them.
"If you're going to be a good corporate citizen, part of your responsibility
is to make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen rather than to say it's three
levels down," Methvin said.
"If a big company advertising on the Internet makes all of its suppliers
down the chain sign a statement (and agree to penalties for breaking the rules),
quickly the problem would go away."
It's not just big advertisers who have ties to spyware and adware.
Yahoo Inc. made a deal with adware company Claria Corp., formerly known as Gator
Corp., to provide search listings for its SearchScout toolbar. The popular search
engines Ask Jeeves and Google also benefit from adware, says Internet researcher
Benjamin Edelman.
He says an Ask Jeeves toolbar generates ads without users' full consent, while
Google's search listings appear in queries made through a questionable third-party
toolbar. Ask Jeeves and Google officials dispute Edelman's account and say they
don't use any spyware or adware. Company policy bans the use of adware by Google,
said spokesman Barry Schnitt.
Several states have adopted anti-spyware bills, and the U.S. House approved two
in May that carry jail sentences of up to five years in prison. The bills, which
don't target advertisers, are now before the Senate, where similar legislation
died last year.
While Spitzer and some lawmakers in Alaska, Pennsylvania and Utah say advertisers
should also be held accountable, not everyone agrees.
"So many people have such antipathy toward adware and spyware vendors that
it blinds them to the underlying legal principles," said Eric Goldman, a
cyber law professor at Marquette University.
He said any liability would be unprecedented and would be akin to holding an advertiser
responsible for libel by the newspaper in which the ad appears.
Some advertisers defend the practice.
"It is just a marketing tool that we use," said Expedia spokesman David
Dennis.
Expedia, like many other adware users, insists it has rigorous standards and checks
to make sure customers want their ads and can easily remove the software if they
don't. Dennis said the company works closely with its ad agencies to make sure.
Melinda Tiemeyer, spokeswoman for Sprint PCS, said Internet users have clicked
on ads delivered by adware, meaning they find them useful. Sprint is OK with using
adware because users, she said, accept it in exchange for phone service offers
and discounts.
But other advertisers including Netflix Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have
changed their attitudes.
"I think it was more of a realization that this was becoming more of a concern
in consumers' eyes and there was a growing level of frustration," said John
Bonomo of Verizon, which discontinued adware last July. Still, "it was effective,"
he said.
"Clearly folks are uncomfortable about it," Edelman said. "Everyone
knows that everyone hates pop-ups ... eventually companies just got embarrassed,
especially when they get on your computer through this kind of trickery."
