[Donuts]

This happened 5/17 - hadn't seen the news posted anywhere here - I must have missed it.

http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2.../1012-S.PL.htm

Note the state legislature of Washington voted uninanimously!!!
House 96 / 0
Senate 47 / 0

Wayne Cunningham, spyware reporter at Download.com, posted this in his blog:
http://blogs.download.com/Spyware-Co...post.php?p=463

From that new thread he started there, I LOVED this part:
Because it’s a Washington state law, violations have to occur in Washington for a prosecution to take place. But since it calls for one hundred thousand dollars in damages per violation, a lot of people may consider bringing their laptop on a vacation to the state.

[Donuts]

See this section there - section 6
(of http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2.../1012-S.PL.htm)

Sec. 6 (1) In addition to any other remedies provided by this chapter or any other provision of law, the attorney general, or a provider of computer software or owner of a web site or trademark who is adversely affected by reason of a violation of this chapter, may bring an action against a person who violates this chapter to enjoin further violations and to recover either actual damages or one hundred thousand dollars per violation, whichever is greater.

Maybe we should all get together, hire a Lawyer and get Ben to prove that some spyware, installed throught the means the new Washington law describes, cost us some money as website owners (adversely affected) through lost sales that happened in Washington state...

[Donuts]

And notice this section...

"Sec. 7 It is the intent of the legislature that this chapter is a matter of statewide concern. This chapter supersedes and preempts all rules, regulations, codes, ordinances, and other laws adopted by a city, county, city and county, municipality, or local agency regarding spyware and notices to consumers from computer software providers regarding information collection."

Does that sound like the Washington State Attorney General just got some very clear marching orders - think the path is being cleared for legal battles to begin changing the landscape...

Washington state... home of Microsoft... coincidence?

Who is the Washington State AG? He just got handed a 400 lb sledge hammer.

It's Rob McKenna. [http://www.atg.wa.gov/mckenna.shtml]
The Washington AG site says:
His priorities as Attorney General include:

Strengthening our state's public disclosure laws and increasing government compliance;
Creating a new cyber fraud unit to combat identity theft, internet fraud and associated problems, such as phishing emails and spyware; and
Reducing the number of lawsuits against state taxpayers by pursuing aggressive risk management strategies with his agency clients.

So his number 2 priority for the state includes kicking spyware's ass. I love it. This issue is rising up the ladder - let the squashing begin!

[Donuts]

One of the State Representatives has a site where he mentions the $100k:
http://hdc.leg.wa.gov/members/morris...are_signed.asp

And he added:
"The new spyware law, originally House Bill 1012, will allow the state Attorney General to seek damages up to $100,000 per violation or actual damages, whichever is greater. Business victims of spyware attacks may also sue spyware purveyors. For example, a company whose software is infiltrated by spyware can take action under the new law.

A court may choose to triple the damages to companies or individuals who spread spyware, up to two million dollars.

The bill received support from the state Attorney General, Microsoft and other software companies"

[Donuts]

USA Today report:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/te...-package_x.htm

"It prohibits the use of "spyware." Such software is designed to monitor, collect and send personal information without the computer user's permission.

Spyware can lead to a range of problems from computer viruses to identity theft. As part of the bill, people engaging in spyware activity could face civil penalties and the state's attorney general could take legal action to prevent the activity.

The attorney general's office is also bolstering its efforts to fight cyber crime.

Attorney General Rob McKenna has asked for increased funding for the consumer protection division, said attorney general's office spokesman Greg Lane. Part of that funding would create a high tech unit focused on investigating computer crimes."


Get 'em!

[waybar]

Are they only going after spyware, or spyware and adware both? I'm more concerned
about adware stealing my commission payments, I know what steps I need to take
to keep most spyware off of my computer.

[Kellie aka Ms. B]

Donuts,

Do you know if it has been signed by the Governor yet? Not that I think it wouldn't be for any reason, but wondering it is is 'officially' on the books yet.

[ecomcity]

They are going after the infestation and re-infestation tricksters as well as the hidden bundling perps. No distinction between if it's spyware or adware as it's all about unauthorized or non explicite consent system hijacking. You can bet Microsoft's Bill Gates was the root cause for this law to allow his company to target the perps. He employs NO ADWHORES to push his brand....period. Therefore the Iab/DMA and advertising networks have no say in his actions to destroy the IE hijackers and Windows security hole installers.

Side note from that download.com blog site ....

Thursday May 12th, 2005
As reported at Spyware Warrior, DirectRevenue has begun its reform effort, releasing a new version of its software. And according to forum posts around the Internet, this new version is causing unwanted pop-up advertisements and slowing down computers. The specific program names that keep coming up are nail.exe, aurora.exe, and bolger.dll. Forum posters relate that these programs are installing in their Windows system directory and will reinstall themselves if you try and remove them. In fact, DirectRevenue deviates from all normal behavior in computer programming by requiring people to go to its MyPCTuneUp site to remove the software. Of course, the antispyware tools should catch up pretty quick and also be able to remove this parasite.

The upside to the new DirectRevenue software is that it’s supposed to be branded. Now the company is actually letting you know where the software came from. How generous. It’s possible DirectRevenue is being more up-front because of a class-action suit (pdf file) filed against it in Illinois. The suit complains of deceptive business practices and alleges violations of computer tampering under the Illinois Criminal Code (Count V, Page 16). Hopefully more Attorneys General will follow the example of Elliot Spitzer and take a look at what laws adware companies have violated.

Seems the Kowabunga purchase by Direct Revenue throws them into a den of BHO theftware partnerships. FindWhat also has their hands full with State and Federal legislation bills. It's time for a Memorial Day...let's bar-b-que some Gator and remember to Flush WhenU....LOL.

[Allen Nance]

Gee, isn't 180 solutions based in Seattle? There must be a preclusion to them. They bring so much money into the state.......

[Kellie aka Ms. B]

Nevermind, found it. It has been and is effective 7/24/2005.

[Kellie aka Ms. B]

Seems the Kowabunga purchase by Direct Revenue throws them into a den of BHO theftware partnerships.

When did DirectRevenue purchase Kowabunga?

[Kellie aka Ms. B]

Gee, isn't 180 solutions based in Seattle?

Yes they are. But it seems it is the violation that has to occur in WA, not that the violator has to be located in WA. Intermix certainly wasn't located in NY. I would tihnk that the violator has to be located in US legal jursidiction. Of course, 180Solutions has recently purchased company located in Canada which is just a hop and skip across the border. Something that made me say "hmmmm" when I first heard of the purchase.

[Donuts]

Originally Posted by ecomcity

They are going after the infestation and re-infestation tricksters as well as the hidden bundling perps. No distinction between if it's spyware or adware as it's all about unauthorized or non explicite consent system hijacking.

Mike, I largely saw the same thing there. But I saw more - the broad definitions leave a lot of ground to be looked at. I believe this is setting a stage for the AG of Washington to look into many practices. It also clearly opens a legal avenue for those harmed (in a myriad of ways) to pursue redress.

There's an awful lot of activity that I can see fitting under the umbrella this legislation defines - that's great. But then again, I'm an optimist...

[ecomcity]

So many purchases/mergers and news I get confused on the playas. Kowabunga was bought by CGI holding Corp ( soon to be Think Partnerships Inc) and their slew of companies....not DirectRevenue or DirectTrack, directresponse, directclick, primaryAds etc etc. So many advertising aggregrators coming out of the woodwork it's easy to get confused.

[Donuts]

Originally Posted by Kellie aka Ms. B

When did DirectRevenue purchase Kowabunga?

Think Partnership bought Kowabunga in March 2005.

Think Patnership owns:
1) Kowabunga / Kolimbo
2) Primary Ads

Primay Ads uses DirectTrack (from Direct Response Technologies) as a backbone network app.

It got a little sticky recently...
http://www.dcbank.com/portal/story.asp?idstr=71544941
http://www.*************/bradwaller/...es/000701.html

but...

CGI Holdings Corporation / Think Partnership, Inc. is a holding company for WebSourced, Inc., the worldwide leader in Internet-based marketing solutions for small businesses and large corporations. Think Partnership, which is headquartered in Chicago, was incorporated in 1987, and was formerly known as North Star Petroleum, Inc.
(and owns Kowabunga and Primary Ads)

Direct Response Technologies, Inc., founded in 1994, is a media and technology firm dedicated to delivering performance-based results and technology solutions to clients. Direct Response Technologies is a privately held company with offices in Pittsburgh, PA, and New York, NY, owned in part by Jupiter Media . The company also operates an office in North Dakota in conjunction with the Department of Commerce of North Dakota.

Direct Response Technologies ( http://www.directresponse.com/ ) provides technology for:
(1) secure coupon delivery and tracking solutions through http://www.mycoupons.com/
(2) keyword tracking through http://www.keywordmax.com/
(3) affiliate tracking through http://www.directtrack.com/
(4) gift certificates and gift card solutions through http://www.giftcards.com/ .


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and finally, back to Kellie's point... err... question....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When did DirectRevenue purchase Kowabunga?"

Never.

DirectRevenue is the pack of liars commented on here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware/?p=446

And here's more fans and lovers of the DirectRevenue SPYWARE:
http://netrn.net/spywareblog/archive...urora-nailexe/

DirectRevenue is not related to Kowabunga, Primary Ads or DirectTrack / Direct Response.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"DirectRevenue" does not equal "Direct Response"

But DirectRevenue are such scumbags, I'd THINK (pardon the pun) Direct Response / DirectTrack may want to consider changing their name...

[ecomcity]

I spent 2 days with a system infested with a drive-by trojan horse install of SpywareNO.com ... the Anti-everything perfect detect/removal tool from the experts in Istanbul Turkey....ROLMAO. If you see that program popup with a "Scare Ad" turn off your power switch immediately as the sh*theals installing this one even diable desktop changes and Safe Mode boot feature.

Spend the day reading all the nifty links on this informative page ....
http://netrn.net/spywareblog/archive...-on-spywareno/
Then lobby ABW to put up a perminent Hall of Shame section to out the sleazebag affiliates hell bent on breaking every rule to pad their pockets.

Child molesters must love the Adware industry... http://www.benedelman.org/spyware/in...dzpage-hotbar/ as they send in their resumes highlighting their expertise in approaching the most vulnerable....

The creativity and mix of HuntBar Adware Ads is overwhelming. http://www.benedelman.org/spyware/in...tails-ads.html

[chetf]

If you remember, washington also had the first strict anti-spam laws, until the federal law nerfed them.

Since I am a Washington State resident now, Once this is effective, I will be checking for any 180 pops on my sites.

I just drove by 180s offices yesterday, someone needs to buy a billboard pointing their way - "here is where all the crap f'ing up your computer is coming from"

Chet

[Donuts]

Chetf, beautiful post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You made me laugh - I pictured the billboard.

Something like....
http://www.1source4.info/images/billboard.jpg

[Mr. Sal]

I just drove by 180s offices yesterday, someone needs to buy a billboard pointing their way - "here is where all the crap f'ing up your computer is coming from"

While that might sound funny for some people, I agree.

someone needs to buy a billboard pointing their way - "here is where all the crap f'ing up your computer is coming from"