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FTC Files Spyware Case Against Sanford Wallace
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."
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
The Union Leader has more information. The part about the bankruptcy tells much about Wallace's character.
"You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older."
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.
"J" (who in his anger may have been under the mistaken impression that I'm associated with Spy Wiper) intends to sue Spy Wiper. He says that when Spy Wiper opened his CD-ROM drive, it popped his infant in the eye. The infant had to be taken to the emergency room.
This is so creepy - I dreamed last night (in between the alien invasion and the date with Bon Jovi) that I had let a friend of a friend check her email on my computer, and when I came back to it there were spyware, pr0n, and other assorted nasties covering the screen. Every time I deleted one, two more popped up in it's place. I had just dealt with this on my laptop in real life and this bitch fubar'd my new machine!
/.
Now this story shows up on
Coincidence?
FRY THE BASTARD!
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
It's more like the mafia. You need protection from what we just did to you. Pay up *and* continue to suffer all at the same time.
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
> there's surely something else he can be chared with.
Lighter fluid?
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
This seems a bit more like extortion to me as he's doing something obnoxious to somebody and then asking for money to stop.
This may be the tactic that the FTC goes with in prosecuting.
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.
/. ain't no stinkin' court o' law.
That's only in a court of law, and
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.
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.
Is there anything else the entire industry has accepted that you want to suggest is wrong?
There's a good article about fatass, er Wallace over on Wikipedia.
In short:
- Wallace use to junkfax until the junk fax law went into place.
- Wallace formerly ran Cyber Promotions, the biggest spammer on the planet at the time, and specialized in things like relay repaying, false return addresses, and outright lying about his lists being "opt-in". It took a permanent injuction to get him to stop.
- Now he's doing spyware and demanding money from people with infected computers.
It's been said before and it's worth repeating again: Wallace has repeatedly shown little respect for other peoples' property and resources. He has no place in society. As far as I'm concerned, he should be locked up for the rest of his natural life.
If I sound bitter, it's because I had to deal with Cyberpromo junk (and that from their rogue ISP, AGIS, if anyone remembers them!) back in the 90's and know exactly how incorrigible he is.
And, be sure to fact-check ANYTHING that comes out of his mouth. I mean it.
How popular is/was Internet Explorer? The largest resaon so much was found in IE was so much attention was given to IE since it is the largest browser by far, and was even larger in the past. Now, as Firefox is growing, it's being targeted. I've started seeing sties that try to send you a mozilla installer package if you are using Firefox, an ActiveX control if oyu are using IE.
If you seriously think Firefox is bug free, well you are sticking your head in the sand. The question isn't if Friefox has exploitable bugs, it does, everything does, the question is when one is found, what happens? The OSS community argues that this is where the strength is, it'll be fixed in a big hurry, so consumers don't have to worry.
Well the thing is, receant events are calling that in to doubt. Salshdot has reported on the two big security bugs in the last couple of months that sat unfixed for YEARS, basically until a big public stink was made about it. So it may be that in reality Firefox is LESS safe.
I use it, since I like it better, but if you think that it has some magic OSS shield that protects you, think again.
Also, the vast majority of spyware, including the spyware in the article, gets on through user stupidity, not exploits. This particular software is the popup/banner nature. It tells you to download it. Users do that, and then it's got them. Others provide some feature people want, like comet cursor, that then also spys on people. Still more just piggy back on top of other software, like the loads of shit that comes with Kazaa.
The FTC lawsuit is against Seismic Productions, which used to be registered to Walt Rines, Wallace's old spamming partner. Rines currently distributes a Trojan horse program called Kazanon that (falsely) claims to make users of the Kazaa file-sharing program invisible to the authorities. When asked about the legality of Kazanon, Rines said "If there's a grey area, I'm all for taking the opportunity, from a marketing standpoint."
First, let me stress that this should not be done in IE, or even on Windows. You have been warned.
Second, check out http://www.freevegasclubs.com/. Specifically view source and look for the mp3 link that's hidden in comments. Download and hear Sanford's name. Note the irony when you read "Don't worry, we don't sell names to spammers!"
Third, check out this link (again! don't do this on IE): http://www.freevegasclubs.com/serve.cgi?1 This was obtained by going to a hidden link that redirected to this. Don't ask me what the original URL was -- I don't have a record of it right now. I discovered it earlier this week when my Snort detector went off with a WSH exploit and I noticed some of my internal minions being trojaned.
So what does that serve up? That would be his trojan code. A IE WSH exploit. It downloads and installs some files over FTP. If you go to the FTP site that's listed in the code, you can download all his stuff. Here's a breakdown:
I'm pretty sure the stuff that ClamAV doesn't catch are trojans and/or spyware. Just haven't had the chance to analyze and submit yet...
Have fun, and don't get caught without proper protection.
Just incase anyone cares:
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION,
Plaintiff,
v.
SEISMIC ENTERTAINMENT
PRODUCTIONS, INC.,
SMARTBOT.NET, INC., and
SANFORD WALLACE,
Defendants.
Civil No.
COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTION
AND OTHER EQUITABLE RELIEF
Plaintiff, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC" or "Commission"), for its Complaint alleges as follows:
1. The Commission brings this action under Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act ("FTC Act"), 15 U.S.C. 53(b), to obtain preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, restitution, disgorgement and other equitable relief against the Defendants for their unfair acts or practices in connection with their marketing and their distribution of software programs to consumers in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(a).
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
2. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 45(a), 52, and 53(b); and 28 U.S.C. 1331,1337(a) and 1345.
3. Venue in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire is proper under 15 U.S.C. 53(b), as amended by the FTC Act Amendments of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-312, 108 Stat. 1691, and 28 U.S.C. 1391(b) and (c).
PLAINTIFF
4. Plaintiff, the Federal Trade Commission, is an independent agency of the United States government created by statute. 15 U.S.C. 41 et seq. The Commission enforces Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(a), which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce. The Commission is authorized to initiate federal district court proceedings by its own attorneys to enjoin violations of the FTC Act and to secure such equitable relief as may be appropriate in each case, including restitution for injured consumers, consumer redress, and disgorgement. 15 U.S.C. 53(b).
DEFENDANTS
5. Defendant Seismic Entertainment Productions, Inc. ("Seismic") is a New Hampshire corporation with its principal place of business located at 11 Farmington Road, Rochester, New Hampshire 03867. Since at least December 2003, and continuing thereafter, Seismic has marketed various products, including purported "anti-spyware" software called "Spy Wiper" and "Spy Deleter," on behalf of others. Seismic advertises these products through "pop-up" advertisements displayed to consumers using various Internet web sites that it controls, including the web sites at www.default-homepage-network.com and downloads.default-homepage-network.com. Seismic also downloads to and installs on consumers' computers various advertising and other software programs, including Favoriteman, TrojanDownloader and Clearsearch. Seismic transacts or has transacted business in the District of New Hampshire.
6. Defendant SmartBot.Net, Inc. ("SmartBot") is a Pennsylvania corporation with its corporate address at 3 Cobblestone Court, Richboro, Pennsylvania 18954, and its principal place of business at 495 Route 9, Barrington, New Hampshire 03825. Since at least December 2003, and continuing thereafter, SmartBot has marketed various products, including purported "anti-spyware" software called "Spy Wiper" and "Spy Deleter," on behalf of others. SmartBot advertises these products through popup advertisements displayed to consumers using various Internet web sites that it controls, including the web sites at www.passthison.com, object.passthison.com, and www.smartbotpro.net. In addition, the pop-up advertisements served by SmartBot also are displayed when a computer user visits various Internet web sites controlled by Seismic, including, but not limited to, www.default-homepage-network.com. SmartBot transacts or has transacted business in the District of New Hampshire.
7. Defendant Sanford Wallace ("Wallace") is or has been President and owner of Defendants Se