WebProNews

The new owner of MySpace parent Intermix, News Corp, has seen the adware case brought by New York AG Eliot Spitzer settled for $8.25 million.

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.