A settlement to be finalized in federal court in California will bar AdultFriendFinder from showing its ads to people unless they are actively looking for sexual content, or have consented to seeing such ads. The terms extend to the affiliates too, which means AdultFriendFinder has to make sure they don’t violate the FTC’s demand.

Terms of the settlement impose recordkeeping requirements on the company regarding its advertising, but unlike other settlements, there was no mention of a fine against AdultFriendFinder. That likely resulted from the site being a first time offender of FTC rules

Commentary about AdultFriendFinder on the McAfee SiteAdvisor website featured complaints about spam as well as popups resulting from visiting or signing up for the site’s services.

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Ben Edelman, a professor at Harvard Business School and certainly no fan of Zango (formerly 180solutions), has gathered evidence suggesting Zango is willingly and openly violating the terms of the FTC settlement.

On his blog, he presents his case:

Among these practices are widespread, ongoing Zango-designed installation sequences which install Zango pop-up ad software without any on-screen disclosure of material terms. Instead, these installations mention Zango’s effects only in a lengthy EULA – exactly contrary to the FTC settlement’s requirements.

Zango’s ongoing practices also include widespread in-toolbar ads without the labeling and hyperlinks specifically required under the FTC settlement. Other Zango ads, including desktop icons and even certain pop-ups, also lack these labels and links.

Perhaps the company filed the FTC fine under "Business Expenses."

Edelman presents a thorough (read: lengthy) investigation, complete with screenshots. In a summary, Edelman cites ActiveX installations, banner-based installations, both without proper disclosure, unlabeled ads, toolbars, desktop icons and pop-ups, and ads for bogus sites with the intent to defraud users. 

The settlement prohibits future downloads of DirectRevenue’s adware without consumers’ express consent, and requires the company to provide "a reasonable and effective" way for consumers to locate and remove the adware from their computers.

“DirectRevenue’s adware infected computers worldwide,” said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. “The FTC settlement brings unauthorized software downloads to a halt and stops DirectRevenue from sending pop-up ads to computers affected by prior unlawful downloads.”

The adware was installed via affiliate and "sub-affiliate" networks, secretly installing programs named The Best Offers, A Better Internet, ABI Network, Ceres, and Aurora that monitored users’ Web browsing to display targeted pop-ups.

These programs piggybacked on free programs offered by DirectRevenue and affiliates, such as screensavers, games, and utilities. In some cases, says the FTC, DirectRevenue affiliates exploited security vulnerabilities in Web browsers to install the adware.

After the adware was installed, DirectRevenue deliberately made it difficult to identify, locate, and remove it, says the FTC, failing to label pop-up ads with their source, storing adware files in remote locales on the hard drive, and cloaking or removing adware presence from the Add/Remove utility.

The uninstall tool provided by DirectRevenue was at various Websites, and required users to follow a ten-step procedure that included installing more software and deactivating third-party firewalls.

The FTC, obviously, thought this to be deceptive and unfair. In addition to the $1.5 million and promise to quit it, the settlement prohibits DirectRevenue from sending ads to computers with adware installed before October of 2005, but permits the company to send those "legacy users" up to three opt-in notices, where they can consent to resume receiving the ads. The notices must also provide simple instructions for installation.

The one dissenting vote to approve the settlement came from Commissioner Jon Leibowitz, who called the $1.5 million penalty a "disappointment."

"“In this consent agreement, Commission staff obtained strong injunctive relief that will put an end to practices that allowed DirectRevenue to foist unwanted software on untold millions of consumers. But the $1.5 million in monetary relief that the Commission obtained as part of the consent agreement is a disappointment because it apparently leaves DirectRevenue’s owners lining their pockets with more than $20 million from a business model based on deceit.”

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Patchou had received the award, given to community leaders who provide assistance to Microsoft customers, “on the basis of his technical expertise and strong community contribution”. The award gives the recipient MVP status for a year, setting the person up as a trusted expert.

Following Patchou’s award, many other MVPs and security experts complained that his program, Messenger Plus, came bundled with Lop, a particularly nasty adware program. While Patchou had changed the type of adware and the installation process multiple times due to complaints from users, it remained part of the program since it was the only way it earned money. In order to maintain the integrity of the MVP program, Microsoft had no choice but to revoke his status.

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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

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Once upon a time in the summer of 2005, rumors swirled that Microsoft planned to purchase Claria, once known and heartily reviled in its Gator incarnation. Steve Ballmer’s M&A had a $500 million check prepared for the purchase, so the reports said.

A palpable outcry seemed to deter Microsoft from the purchase. Complaints about Microsoft quietly downgrading the way its anti-spyware product rated Claria software and the general public griping about bringing the company aboard the Redmond mothership appeared to scuttle the deal. The rumors melted away.

Then a curious story about a Microsoft trademark filing emerged. The mysterious blogger Thomas Hawk posted speculation in late February 2006 that the trademark filing could indicate Microsoft and Claria were working together on something called Relerank.

The Relerank name is awfully close to RelevancyRank. So close that it was a little surprising the sounds of Gulfstream jets full of attorneys and paperwork should have been heard departing from the airport nearest Claria’s Redwood City, CA, headquarters to deliver their lethal legal payloads at Bill Gates’ doorstep.

It didn’t happen. Much like Conan Doyle’s curious incident of the dog in the night-time, not a peep was heard from Claria about what looked like an infringement.

This brings us to current day. Claria has sworn off adware, MediaPost reported, and is working with Deutsche Bank Securities to sell off products it bundles with adware. They plan to be out of the adware business by the end of June.

The end of June. Something else happens then, too. Microsoft’s long-running deal with Yahoo’s Overture unit for online advertising ends, to be replaced by MSN adCenter.

Just a coincidence? Let’s look at the last paragraph of the MediaPost article:

Perhaps they found one in the form of Microsoft, with its Windows Live Toolbar and MSN Messenger client. Claria gets bought out, its venture capital backers cash out, and RelevancyRank becomes Microsoft Relerank.

And everyone lives happily ever after. The end.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

The two big Internet portals will work with third-party verifier TRUSTe and two testing labs to certify software with their Trusted Download Program. It’s a move that the program hopes will cut down on the number of popup ads users experience.

One significant point made in BusinessWeek noted the initiative won’t have a grandfather clause for adware makers. This means any software company agreeing to the program’s terms will have to notify existing users about their software and what it does on their PCs.

For Yahoo, it means turning down millions of dollars those developers paid for its search ads, which they delivered with their software. “Yahoo is absolutely prepared to walk away from adware companies that don’t comply,” Doug Leeds, Yahoo’s vice-president for product justice, said in the report.

That position shows a turn from Yahoo’s position that it can make a beneficial difference in adware development by being an active participant in the field. The company faced criticism in September when spyware researcher Ben Edelman pointed out how Yahoo ads were appearing in several adware products.

Many adware products track user activity, and deliver a popup based on something they might be viewing or searching for online. Yahoo’s participation began when it purchased Overture in 2003, the report said, as Overture already had agreements in place with firms like Claria, which was once known as Gator.

AOL’s parent Time Warner and telecom firm Verizon will also be part of the initiative.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

When Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp picked up Los Angeles-based Intermix for its new Internet unit, it inherited a dustup between Intermix and the crusading attorney general from New York.

Spitzer’s investigators found that secret adware installs from Intermix were taking place on ten separate web sites.

During the six-month investigation, Spitzer’s office found that the Intermix installs were crafted to be hidden from users; further, the software could not be uninstalled from a Windows machine via the typical Add/Remove Programs function.

Intermix will pay a fine of $7.5 million in settlement of the case. Former CEO Brad Greenspan, who fought the News Corp takeover of Intermix on the grounds the offer undervalued the company, will pay $750,000 in fines, MediaPost reported.

News Corp ultimately purchased Intermix in July for $580 million. The social networking site MySpace was considered key to the deal, as Murdoch seeks to ramp up his company’s place on the Internet in a powerful way.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

Adware Installation Stealth Tactic 1: Expensive Freebie

How it works: adware may get installed with so-called free software without any mention of it being included anywhere in the software’s license or documentation. Or any mention of the bundled software is buried deep within a click-wrap licensing agreement.

How to protect yourself: It’s become an endlessly repeated clich, but it’s true: only install software from developers you trust. That doesn’t mean you can never try any software from a new company. Just familiarize yourself with the developer’s reputation before opening wide your hard drive. Search the developer’s name on search engines. If a dozen anti-spyware advertisements are listed alongside the search results, that’s not a good sign.

How to fight back: If you’ve already downloaded the expensive freebie, it’s probably too late to simply uninstall it. The bundled adware will likely stick around on your computer long after the software that came with it has been sent to the recycling bin. Instead, you need to use an anti-spyware program, and preferably two to be sure.

Tactic 2. Adware Drive-by

How it works: adware may hide in a website’s code and download itself automatically onto the site visitor’s hard drive. This is often called a “drive-by” installation.

How to protect yourself: drive-by installations of software tend to happen on obscure commercial websites, rather than personal homepages, blogs, or the websites of established businesses. If you can avoid surfing in those kinds of rough waters, you’ll be a lot safer from adware attacks.

How to fight back: If you do suspect that a site has downloaded software onto your computer, close it immediately and fire up your anti-spyware and antivirus software. You may also want to delete your browser’s cache and also any program downloads folders and temporary internet folders, just in case the adware is a new kind of adware that isn’t in your anti-spyware software’s database yet.

Tactic 3: The Old-Fashioned Way: Email

How it works: you know the drill: just as with viruses, adware may come as an email attachment. The stealth part is that simply not opening attachments may not be enough to protect you. The attachment may not display an attachment icon and is set to auto-install as soon as the message is opened.

How to protect yourself: make sure your email software does not open attached files automatically. With most new email software applications the option to block automatic downloads of attached files is set as the default. But to be really safe, you should set your anti-spyware software to automatically monitor all email.

How to fight back: delete the offending email without opening it or the attachment (assuming that hasn’t happened already). Run a full scan of your hard drive using anti-spyware and antivirus software.

Joel Walsh, who has no affiliation with Amazon.com, writes on web content and business marketing. Contact Joel to discuss your business web content copywriting: http://www.joelwalsh.com

Many of these programs are down right dangerous and seriously threaten your online privacy and identity. But even the simple and supposedly benign Adware programs can cause you serious problems.

Spyware is any program that installs itself onto your computer with the intent to spy on your activity. This can be recording your online searching habits, or whatever you type on your keyboard. Adware is not much better. It is designed to watch what you do online, where you go, which terms you search for and then report this to the ad agency that runs the adware program.

Adware programs may be designed with the best intentions in mind, but even these can cause your computer serious problems.

Here is what happens. Many, if not most, advertisers on the internet will try and place a cookie or other small program on your computer. Many will add code that will track that cookie as it hits different pages. The code may be designed simply to gather anonymous data, or it may be trying to send ads to your browser that the advertising company thinks you will be more likely to respond to.

Whatever the case, the Adware or Spyware is using your computer to do its tracking. This means that part of your computer’s power and CPU cycles are being diverted away from the activity you are trying to perform. Your computer is being used by someone else instead to track your movements. Now, when we multiply this behavior by tens or hundreds of Adware or Spyware programs all trying to use your computer for their work you can begin to see the problem.

These programs can literally slow your computer down to a crawl, or make it crash altogether. They can fill your computer up with trash files, open unwanted popup windows, use up the space in your internet cache and generally just make working on your computer a nightmare.

Luckily there are several easy solutions to the problem. But first let me make one distinction, Spyware and Adware are not the same thing as a computer virus. Although a computer virus can install spyware on a computer, you will need different tools to remove a computer virus and to keep your system clean from Spyware and Adware. You should be using both a high quality commercial anti-virus program and one or more good quality programs for handling the spyware/adware problem.

There are several good Spyware/adware programs on the market. I use two different programs on my network, Ad-aware from Lavasoft and Spy Sweeper from Webroot Software although there are several others. You can easily find both of these by doing an internet search for Ad-aware and Spy Sweeper. Or simply do a search for spyware.

Both of these programs will scan your hard drives and registry and present you with a list of spyware/adware programs hiding on your system. You can then quarantine or remove the offending programs. I use both of these programs since neither one seems to catch everything. Plus I will run them 2 or more times in a row, the nastier spyware will not be completely removed on the first pass.

The process is very easy and I recommend running these programs at least once a week and every time you have been doing some extended web surfing. You will be surprised at how many of these spyware/adware programs will sneak onto your system. I run a very clean network and I have yet to scan my system and not come up with at least a few of these hiding on my hard drive.

So be aware of the problem, take reasonable precautions, scan your system frequently, and the spyware/adware curse can be broken.

George Peirson is a successful Entrepreneur and Internet Trainer. He is the author of over 30 multimedia based tutorial training titles covering such topics as Photoshop, Flash and Dreamweaver. To see his training sets visit http://www.howtogurus.com

Article copyright 2005 George Peirson

… Golden Palace Casino just leased the cleavage of Shaune Bagwell – a model that looks like she’s trying to keep the buzz going.

This isn’t the first online auction that Golden Palace has won – they also get a ton of press for the other things they have bought, such as the McDonald’s Lincoln Fry for $75K and the Mother Mary Grilled Cheese. There’s a ton of press about what they have bought, and it has brought name recognition in a competitive field.

According to the “if-they-spell-your-name-correctly-it’s-good-publicity approach,” this is a good strategy. People know about Golden Palace. Do people know it as an online casino? Or, is it known more as that online casino that buys the funky stuff on eBay and travels around the country with them? Or, do they know them as an adware company?

My thoughts are that while it’s great to get name recognition, is this translating into increased membership?

I IM’ed Ben Silverman of PR Fuel and BenSilverman.net (very funny blog by Ben on his life) because I knew he would be good for a soundbite. Plus, he always brings a good perspective as a former NY Post journalist, the original DotComScoop and someone that is on the PR side while still writing.

They’re not going to stir up positive press because they’re an online casino, basically a rogue operation… they’re involved in gambling, a vice, which isn’t on the top of most people’s list when it comes to positive story subjects.

Silverman has a very, very valid point. What touchy-feely stories can you write about an online casino? The investigations by the US government on the legality? That person X lost a ton of cash, and now can’t pay his mortgage? That it’s becoming like porn, where people are claiming their credit cards were stolen?

So, Golden Palace gets name recognition in a way that works for them – the any press is good press strategy. This is a great strategy for a casino, however, this strategy doesn’t work for everyone, and shouldn’t be the first part of a PR strategy.

If you think back to the dotcom days, a lot of PR firms were just media machines, throwing up as much crap as possible at the wall – sorry, pitching to everyone under the sun – and hoping for the best with as much press as possible. I call it the quantity, yardstick approach.

That isn’t a strategic campaign, and usually does not help a company. Strategically, you want to target the right press with the right messaging. I call that the quality, on message approach. Have a few message points you want the targeted media to pick up, to reach the right, optimal audience.

Link: Mediapost’s Out to Launch

Jeremy Pepper is the CEO and founder of POP! Public Relations, a public relations firm based in Arizona, USA.

He authors the popular Musings from POP! Public Relations blog which offers Jeremy’s opinions and views – on public relations, publicity and other things.