D-Squared Can Resume Pop-Ups, For Now

linuxwrangler writes "According to this SF Gate article, U.S. District Judge Andre Davis said there was insufficient evidence for him to grant a preliminary injunction preventing D-Squared from using Microsoft's messenger service to send pop-up ads to Windows users. D-Squared used the Windows messenger service to pop-up ads as often as every 10 minutes. The ads promoted its product -- software to stop 'these unwanted and illegal pop-up messages forever with the click of a button' - a practice the FTC called 'high-tech extortion.'"

Comments

Damned If You Do...

[MBCook]

software to stop 'these unwanted and illegal pop-up messages forever with the click of a button'

OK. Let's all read this. Now this is either true or untrue. Let's take a look.

Option 1: the statement is true. That means that pop-ups are illegal, and hence the company is knowingly and willfuly violating the law. If this is the situation, they are in trouble.

Option 2: the statement is false. That means that pop-ups are NOT illegal. Hence the company is lying to extort money through practicing false advertising (along with probably being in violation of some of those new anti-spam laws).

Seems to me they have managed to write themselves into a corner. Now if we add to that some of the other charges that we might be able to make stick, they're in deeeeeeeeeeeeep trouble. Let's see what else we can come up with, shall we?

• Harassment - Isn't sending the same ad to someone and interupting what they are doing every 10 minutes harassment?
• Junk Fax - I suppose you could argue this one if spam e-mail counts
• Spam Laws - Mentioned above, this is spamming isn't it?
• Anti-hacker laws - Aren't there laws that make it illegal to use someone else's computer without their permission? Well surly forcing a computer to display something against the user's will would count.
• Violating TOS - Surly what these guys are doing is in violation of the terms of service of their ISP. Sue the ISP to get them shut off, and they'll be droped like a brick. Contine ad-infinitum, or the spammers get a clue, which ever comes first (take a guess).

Of course, spamming the spammer (and their lawyer) with these pop-up messages might finally do it. Am I the only one who thinks that someone who's stupid enough to do this in the first place probably isn't using their own software?

I have an idea

[El]

Let's all send a large box of manure to D-Squared headquarters, with a note inside saying "For only $29.95, you can stop these illegal and unwanted mailings forever!" Or better yet, disable the damn message service! Or even better still -- run Linux.

Stop that popup in 10 easy steps clicks for free.

[bryanp]

1. Start
2. Settings
3. Control Panel.
4. Administrative Tools.
5. Services.
6. Messenger
7. Change Startup Type to "Manual"
8. Stop.
9. Apply.
10. OK.