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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."

5 of 472 comments (clear)

  1. Pop-Ups? by dukeluke · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Well, I personally use the ZoneAlarm Pop-Up Stopper...very handy and nice prog. Works like a charm.

    So, to pay $30 for a pop-up stopper that's already incorporated in another prog you bought? - I'd say is ludicrous...

    But, to pay for a prog at all - when you can go Open-Source and get better results is just as insane...

    I use M$ for school (VS.net) - and games. Other than that I would use Linux exclusively!

  2. Re:Mozilla does the same thing by RobertB-DC · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Don't forget Opera, which has configurable pop-up options built in -- accept, refuse, open in background, open requested only. I always run with "open requested only", so I have yet to see a Pop-Up I didn't like.

    Except when my wife is running her virus portal, I mean IE browser.

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  3. POP ! by Ignis+Flatus · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ...goes the weasel. LOL!!

  4. Mozilla by BoomerSooner · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    It's free. I haven't had a non-requested pop-up in over a year since I switched. And as an added benefit none of my code (web development) needs to be tested for Netscape (I do have to test for IE but since most of the people who use my software use IE, I hear errors first from them).

  5. Re:Windows: Google toolbar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    mozilla besides blocking popups:

    stops unrequested moving/resizing of windows
    stops unrequested raising/lowering of windows
    stops unrequested hiding of status bar
    stops changing of status bar text
    can stop image swaps

    not vulnerable to IE exploits

    http://info.astreet.com/article.php?sid=263
    htt p://illmob.org/0day/internet%20explorer%20explo its/
    http://www.netprouk.com/Exploit/

    why the fuck do i need a google bar? i need leaner and meaner not a jenga puzzle of software layered one on top of another in an attempt to secure the unsecurable.

    my mcse cohort runs: software firewall, antivirus, antikeylogger, antipopup, googlebar, spybot, adaware(neither catches all), password protect, and ntfs encryption.

    he still catches a virus, and any given moment, can't tell you if his machine is completely free from viruses or having been hacked.

    did i mention that the system takes 5 minutes to boot?