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FTC Files Spyware Case Against Sanford Wallace

Posted by michael on from the straight-and-narrow dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Legendary reformed spammer Sanford Wallace is apparently back in business, under suspicion by the Feds for advertising a trojan spyware removal tool. Wallace 'admit[s] no wrongdoing', but in the next breath says 'The FTC is trying to enforce a law that hasn't even passed', referring to the proposed anti-spyware legislation currently in Congress."

8 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. We have perfectly good laws to prosecute him under by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wallace 'admit[s] no wrongdoing', but in the next breath says 'The FTC is trying to enforce a law that hasn't even passed'

    If you're selling spyware as anti-spyware, that's fraud, genius.

    Maybe he's hoping that the public will stand up for poor little him.

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  2. Re:oh please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    no .. more like being pulled over by a cop for doing 60 in a 60 zone when the speed limit is going to change to 40 tomorrow ...

  3. Re:oh please... by Nos. · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Huh? Advertising a program that is supposed to protect/remove spyware but acts as spyware or a trojan does not at all compare to being pulled over by a cop.
    This guy is guilty of fraud.

  4. Re:oh please... by cob666 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    no .. more like being pulled over by a cop for doing 60 in a 60 zone when the speed limit is going to change to 40 tomorrow ...

    Not entirely correct. There is NOTHING wrong with going 60 in a 60 zone, regardless of when the speed limit is going to change. However, EVERYBODY knows that there is something wrong with installing software that interferes with the way your browser functions without telling the user what is being installed. And THEN, getting them to pay $30 to uninstall the software.
    --
    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law - Aleister Crowley
  5. I'm not on his side, but by bsdbigot · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty?" Really, I'm appalled when stories like this come up and the great majority of /. posters cry foul.

    The reality of the situation is, under the alleged crime(s) he committed, he has yet to be convicted. As such, he is entitled to be treated justly and without contempt, at least WRT the current situation.

    As for his claim that there's no wrong-doing on his part, while then saying that the law hasn't yet passed - this is not a contradiction, at all, as the /. submitter implies. Until those things are made illegal, they are still legal and thus not "wrong," in the eyes of the law. That does of course fall to the ground in situations where the "wrong-doing," was initiated/perpetuated through fraud or other illicit activities, but the action in question would still not be wrong because it is not proscribed.

    --
    main(){char I,l,O[]={'-',1-1,0,(1<<5)-1,0+'-',-10-1,-10,11-0,- 1,-100};for(I=l=0;l<10+0;put
    1. Re:I'm not on his side, but by Tenebrious1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty?" Really, I'm appalled when stories like this come up and the great majority of /. posters cry foul.

      That's only in a court of law, and /. ain't no stinkin' court o' law.

      The reality of the situation is, under the alleged crime(s) he committed, he has yet to be convicted. As such, he is entitled to be treated justly and without contempt, at least WRT the current situation.

      In an enlightened world, perhaps. But in that enlightened world, we wouldn't have spammers and scumware writers in the first place. Just because the law presumes his innocence, does not mean that we the public can't have our own opinions.

      He's a witch, burn him!

      --
      -- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
  6. NO by Exmet+Paff+Daxx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's like being charged with spyware offenses by the FTC while new spyware legislation is making its way through Congress.

    Fuck your analogies. Wallace is still guilty of the 1000-year-old crime of fraud and they're going to nail him for it. New legislation may help further convictions. Film at 11.

    --
    If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
  7. Re:We have perfectly good laws to prosecute him un by AKAImBatman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, but the SpyWiper program is spyware itself. Thus it's fraud.

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade