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Brian Krebs on Computer Security

Three of the most aggressive buyers of online advertising
space today agreed to
...53... fines and reform their advertising
practices as part of a landmark anti-spyware settlement.

Mobile phone giant Cingular Wireless LLC, and travel
sites Priceline.com and Travelocity.com agreed to settle their
part in an ongoing investigation by the New York State Attorney
General's office, which last year sued adware/spyware purveyor
DirectRevenue for deceptively and fraudulently installing its popup
ad serving and Web tracking software on millions of PCs
...54... approval or consent of consumers.

This is an important settlement on a number of levels.
Online help forums are awash in desperate messages from
consumers
...55... machines were besieged by pop-up ads after
visiting a Web site that used slimy drive-by tactics to install
DirectRevenue's software, which is notoriously difficult to
remove from a host machine.

Perhaps more significantly, these advertisers were just
as culpable for supporting DirectRevenue's sleazy business
practices long after anti-spyware activists like Ben Edelman,
Suzi Turner and others published evidence of the illegal
distribution methods of DirectRevenue and the Webmasters it
paid to install its software. Experts consistently documented
adware bundles like the ones distributed by DirectRevenue
being installed on computers that contract distributors had
already infected with computer viruses and worms.

Ari Schwartz, deputy director for the Center for
Democracy & Technology, a consumer policy group in
Washington, D.C., said today's settlement was important
because it recognizes the oft-overlooked role that advertisers
continue to play in supporting the adware and spyware industry.

"The dirty secret about unwanted adware is that many
legitimate companies 
- knowingly or not - fund its proliferation
with their advertising dollars. Until we cut off that funding, there
will always be a financial incentive for companies to bombard
users with adware that they neither want nor need," Schwartz
said in a written statement.

While the settlement is a welcome and important one, the
terms and fines could have been a bit stiffer. Under the terms of
the agreement, all three companies will have to pay between
$30,000 and $35,000 each to New York state. In addition, "prior
to contracting with a company to deliver their ads, and quarterly
thereafter, the companies must investigate how their online ads
are delivered. The companies must immediately cease using
adware programs that violate the settlement agreements or their
own adware policies."

By Brian Krebs ? January 29, 2007
(Adapted from:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/01/web_advertisers
_settle_ny_spyw.html)
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