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D Squared To Stop Sending Pop-Ups

Posted by timothy on from the how-very-gracious-of-them dept.

bizpile writes "D Squared Solutions, the company created by college students Anish Dhingra and Jeffrey Davis, has agreed to stop bombarding computer users with Internet pop-up ads to advertise its ad-blocking software, avoiding a court battle with the Federal Trade Commission. They were sending pop-up ads using the Messenger function enabled on many Windows operating systems. Their attorneys claimed the pair were not trying to extort consumers with their ads and only intended to send one a day to computer users. Lawyer Anthony J. Dain has said the ads are 'annoyances you have to deal with in a free society.'" (The San Diego Union-Tribune also has a story.)

11 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Annoyances by MaineCoon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    'annoyances you have to deal with in a free society.'

    No, no I don't. Thank you, FTC.

    --
    Hunt your preferred prey at Aliens vs Predator MUD. Join the war at avpmud.com port 4000
    1. Re:Annoyances by gmhowell · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Speaking of annoyances you don't have to live with, clicking this link removes the awful color scheme that /. has for the IT section.

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  2. Sounds like they're done for... by Maestro4k · · Score: 5, Insightful
    • D Squared agreed not to send pop-up ads using the Messenger function enabled on many Windows operating systems; such ads do not require an open Web browser to display. The company also won't sell ad-blocking software any longer, and it is barred from sending other ads unless users can choose not to receive them.
    Looking at this it looks like their advertising days are over. That last bit will be hard for them to get around since they'll likely be heavily scrutinized by the FTC for some time to come.

    I certainly won't feel sorry for them, they were sending their popups using the windows Messaging function, making them even lower down than most popup advertisers. Kudos to the FTC for going after these guys!

  3. Annoyances? by nysus · · Score: 5, Funny
    'annoyances you have to deal with in a free society.'

    Which? Lawyers that defend assholes like this?

    --

    ---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.

    1. Re:Annoyances? by ScrewMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He's just trying to equate unwanted advertising with constitutionally-protected free speech. Idiot ... the vital principle of being allowed to speak one's mind without fear of retaliation by a vengeful government has nothing to do with abuse of one's fellow citizens for fun and profit. I have the feeling that if junk mail, junk faxes and spam had existed during the Revolution there'd be specific provisions against them in the Constitution.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  4. Annoyances by Chapium · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess they learned about another annoyance in a free society: Lawyers

  5. Annoyances, huh? by ScrewMaster · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anyone got this "Dain" person's IP address? I have a "NET SEND" that I'd like to throw his way.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  6. This is a prime example of software failure by kidventus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Messenger should never have been exposed as a default running service on Windows XP, 2000, & NT computers.. with no authentication and no option to turn it off without going deep in to a services menu.

    This proves that software developers in general were caught flat-footed by the internet, and that they failed us as customers by claiming that their computers were now "internet ready" and only meant by that that they gave us integrated no-choice branded browsers and instant messengers to save their market share, they didn't even think about us, just themselves.

    Bottom feeders like Square D exist and will always exist. The real failure are software developers, and they should take the blame for the decisions they made from 96 - 01 (when XP was released with Messenger ON) and do better.

    Now if you'll excuse me, I have to run a virus scan and delete my tracking cookies.

    --
    There is a rage in me to defy the order of the stars, despite their pretty patterns.
  7. This is a great example by RLiegh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    of how the government can properly work with the internet community in policing legitimate nuisences. I'd almost go as far as to say this is evidence we don't need a ton of laws specially tailored to the internet.

  8. Re:White Hat Spammer! by Joey+Patterson · · Score: 5, Informative

    How to Disable Windows Messenger Service" courtesy of the University of Virginia.

  9. "Annoyances"? by penginkun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So if I come 'round and kick them in the groin once a day and then leave, is that another of those 'annoyances (sic) you have to deal with in a free society'?

    Seems like assault and battery, but really, it's not! And those ads they're sending, they only SEEM like an invasion of privacy, but trust me, they're not!