[Kellie aka Ms. B]

From my blog:

FTC Press Release

The settlement calls for $1.5 million to be paid in fines for questionable installation and removal tactics of the DirectRevenue adware. There are also clauses regarding how the adware can be distributed in the future as well as ads being displayed through “legacy” installations.

The Commission vote to accept the settlement was 4-1. The dissenting vote came from Jon Leibowitz (who has publicly called for the reporting of advertisers using adware to shame those financially supporting adware) on the grounds he felt the monetary fines were to little, as DirectRevenue as profitted by more than $20 million.

Public comments are open to the FTC until March 21, 2007.

[ecomcity]

Great news Kellie (The Cajun Queen). You aught to make this one a sticky as every word in the FTC settlement agreement reflects the over-all view of the active ABWers, since the original CoC summit. Network enablers -merchant AMs and sleazeball affiliates should read every word ...twice. Deceptive and forced advertising via the cookied affiliate network Super browser spammers is illegal -immoral and destructive.

Sure hope some here take time to write the FTC during the 30 day comment period to strengthen the penalities and cry out for Merchant's using Adware get OUTED in public.

[Donuts]

The fine is disappointing (allowing big profits to remain), but the FTC is slowly getting better at chasing these ashwipes down and cornering them. I look forward to much more of it to come!

[Chuck Hamrick]

I am waiting for the day when an announcement is big enough to scare the big parasites out of the business. Maybe we should petition to have NASCAR hand out the fines.

[Herb Ô¿Ô¬]

Originally Posted by Chuck Hamrick

I am waiting for the day when an announcement is big enough to scare the big parasites out of the business. Maybe we should petition to have NASCAR hand out the fines.

in front of the 3rd lap!

[Donuts]

If you're an affiliate and you're wondering about the size and scope of the adware problem in our industry... and you're wondering whether or not these large companies lie, decieve and cheat... and if you wonder how much money is involved with their nefarious tactics... and if you wonder about how consumers are really affected by adware and spyware... and if you wonder how they install their shitware and how they make sure most consumers can hardly do anything about it... and if these companies actually allow the average consumer to remove their shitware... and if they regularly make deals to distribute ads and other shitware... and if you've wondered about LinkShare's and CommissionJunction's / ValueClick's involvement in it all...

then read through the plaintiff's documents and exhibits for the legal case that was brewing between Direct Revenue and the New York Attorne General. While the case was settled (as Kellie reported above), the documents behind the case provide a LOT of insight into how it all works.

Ben Edelman put together this index of the court documents. It's an excellent review of the nastiness involved in just this one case. This write up isn't new, but it's depth and it's revealing of so many aspects should teach any inquisitive affiliate or AM/OPM/merchant a lot about the level of deception being practiced and the cavalier attitude they maintain while screwing over anything and anyone in their path.

http://www.benedelman.org/spyware/nyag-dr/

[Donuts]

Early, in Exhibit 2, you'll see links to documents covering this (my bolding):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Discusses the ad networks used to track advertising display, including Aquantive's Atlas and DoubleClick. Discusses other sources from which Direct Revenue receives ads, including LinkShare and eBay Shopping.com. Says Direct Revenue sold a "majority" of its advertising through Traffic Marketplace and ValueClick.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you're an affiliate and you don't view LinkShare and CommissionJunction (ValueClick owns CJ) as being a part of the adware / spyware problem, you're just not informed.

If you're a merchant, merchant AM or OPM and you trust these parties to safeguard your data and to align with your business interests, you're being foolish.

If you own a merchant operation and your affiliate manager told you that you could do so much better at LinkShare or Commission Junction, you should know by now that he/she's referring to his/her "performance" bonus, not your incremental sales.

[Trust]

Best Offers and Direct Revenue have ceased operations. To service legacy consumers we are maintaining this page of uninstall instructions, an uninstall software tool, and an email based support service.

http://www.direct-revenue.com/

And paperghost got at them good -
http://www.vitalsecurity.org/2007/10/direct-revenue-officially-shut-down.html

[Rhea]

I haven't read the whole thing but so far this is the part I find most interesting in Ben Edelman's report.

Direct Revenue distributors, including installation counts by month and year. Includes substantial installations (more than 5,000 per distributor) from 24/7 Real Media, Advertising.com, Adperform, Adscpm, Adtegrity, Advelocity, Advolt, Argonaut, Bane Media, Blubster, Briony Hurn, Bundleware, Carl, CDT, Club Jenna, Coloumb, Cydoor, Dio, Dmagroup, Elite Media Group, Eprocessing, EU Software, Evolution World Wide, ExitExchange, Flying Crocodile, Fortunecity, Grokster, Holistyc, Icmd, Idownload, IE Plugin, Imgiant, Integrated Search, ISuply, JonesMedia, Kazaa, LEC Dialer, Lycos SideSearch (upgrade), Madnight, Magic Window, Mamma Media, Marketing Metrix Group, Max Online, Media Motor, Media Whiz, MindSet, Music Civy Morpheus, MyGeek, Net Thinkmedia, Newmedia, Online Traffic Broker, Opt-In Big, Protected Media, Qoolaid, Razor Media, Ride Marketing Group, Seed Corn, Simpel, Simple Internet, Skyhorn, Standard Internet, Sunny View, Target Comm, Terrapin Media, Traffix, Vendare, Vera Pass, Verticlick, West Frontier, Wild Media, and WSW Telecom. (36-73)

There are a few high profile names on this list. They should all be ashamed.

[loxly]

Does the uninstaller actually work now?

[Donuts]

Yippee!!! I hope all the adware bizzes burn to ashes.

RIP D.R.