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FTC Shuts Down Pop-Up Extortion Firm

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the thats-just-crazy dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The FTC has shut down D Squared, a company that's been spamming via the Windows Messenger Pop-Up Service. In some cases, ads would pop-up every 10 minutes, and only advertised a $30 product that disabled similar pop-up ads. The FTC is slamming the extortion gauntlet on them. Interestingly, the FTC only caught onto all this because one of their own commissioners was among those getting spammed."

13 of 472 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder what their email addresses are... by delirium28 · · Score: 3, Funny
    Maybe we can get them to shut down the spammers next...

    --
    Who is John Galt?
  2. 2 billion.. hmmm by nyet · · Score: 4, Funny

    "On its Web site, the firm said the software could beam 135,000 pop-up ads at consumers every hour, and claimed to have a database of over two billion Internet addresses, according to the FTC."

    2^32, minus subnets and netmasks, minus 10, 127, 192.168, etc...

  3. Okay... by Saint+Aardvark · · Score: 4, Funny
    "But the firm now says Windows Messenger probably isn't necessary for home users, and future versions of its Windows software will come with the service turned off."

    I gotta know. Who ported cluestick to Windows? :-)

    --
    Carousel is a lie!
  4. Re:one of their own commissioners... by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yep, so much for government of the people, by the people, for the people. It's only when their self-interest gets nicked that they move their lardarses. Lets hope some of them lose money on $CO..

  5. How long before linux is affected? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    It has come to my attention that there is a is a program called "kdialog" on most distros (since KDE is the dominant gui), since there are a lot of incecure boxen out there, how long will it take before some one writes a program to exploit this.

    If you think I'm lying, press ALT+F2, then paste the following into it.


    kdialog --msgbox "Your computer is broadcasting a IP Address, please go to purplemonkeyse.cx to download a security fix for only \$129"


    To see if you computer is vulnerable, press ALT+PRINT SCREEN+B at the same time.
  6. Re:These are annoying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or, instead of clicking on you non-working link to install a pile of shit annoyance on your already resource-choked Windows machine, how about just disabling the Windows Messenger service?

    You don't have precious seconds to waste by clicking the preview button, but you're reading Slashdot?

  7. Re:Thats what we get for tolerating advertisements by kfg · · Score: 3, Funny

    . . .ride my bike outside without having to endure constant sales pitches, without having huge logos and brand names all over the place.

    Actually, this is a pretty good description of the appearance of most of the bike riders I see these days.

    KFG

  8. Re:Thats what we get for tolerating advertisements by jazman_777 · · Score: 4, Funny
    What exactly is the difference?

    Billboards are not a violation of anyone's property rights. They may be an aesthetic offense, but that is what life in the USA is all about these days, is it not? Looking like a slob is one of our fundamental rights.

    --
    Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
  9. My Favorite part... by ePhil_One · · Score: 4, Funny
    On its Web site, the firm said the software could beam 135,000 pop-up ads at consumers every hour, and claimed to have a database of over two billion Internet addresses, according to the FTC

    If any wants, I can sell them a copy of that database for just $25,000. A brief sample to show I have the goods:

    192.168.0.1
    192.168.0.2
    192.168.0.3
    192.168.0.4

    --
    You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
    1. Re:My Favorite part... by (H)elix1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      If any wants, I can sell them a copy of that database for just $25,000. A brief sample to show I have the goods:

      192.168.0.1
      192.168.0.2
      192.168.0.3
      192.168.0 .4

      {Dark Helmet voice}
      192.168.0.1-2-3-4-5 -- what a coincidence, I have that combination on my network.
      {/Dark Helmet voice}

      --
      +++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
  10. Well, I have a list with over 4.2 Billion! by ahecht · · Score: 2, Funny

    Some claim to have a list with 4,228,250,625 IP addresses, but 16,581,375 of those seem to all refer to the same computer. I, however, have a verified list of 4,211,669,251.

  11. Re:one of their own commissioners... by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Funny
    Poster wrote:
    How do you do counterfeiting "in a small way"?
    Counterfeit pennies?
  12. Re:Actually it's a windows thing by GigsVT · · Score: 2, Funny

    Admitting to using not only Windows, but also AOL on Slashdot. Using them at home even. Ouch.

    You know, you could have turned off the messenger service in the services control panel, even if AOL hadn't already.

    --
    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.