Three Companies Shut Down For Spyware Bundling

SenseOfHumor writes "A U.S. Court has shut down three companies for secretly bundling spyware. The assets of Enternet Media Inc. and Conspy & Co. Inc., based in California, and Iwebtunes, based in Ohio, have been frozen pending further court action, the FTC said. The court also ordered all three firms to halt downloads of the software." From the article: "According to a complaint filed in district court in Los Angeles, Enternet and Conspy bundled their malicious software with music files, song lyrics and cellular telephone ring tones offered free on a range of Web sites. The software was also disguised as a security upgrade for Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer Web browser."

Comments

So when will Sony BMG be shut down?

[4r0g]

Obvious case there.

Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down?

[AKAImBatman]

Did you miss the last story or what? It's still on the front page, so if you hurry you can add your 2 cents. :-)

Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down?

[AstroDrabb]

Answer: never. The main difference between Sony BMG and these three companies is that these three companies are/were very small. Once you get enough captital to bribe members of the government with, you basically become untouchable.

I guess this episode should become a lesson in all MBA classes. If your company is small then keep your head low and do good business. Once the company becomes big enough, _then_ you get to do the nasty things.

Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down?

[qmVSE*w!7e,QF(,]

I'm no fan of Sony's actions, but there's another big difference here: Sony at least has the excuse of attempting to do something that is legal, i.e., protect its intellectual property. That doesn't make Sony's rootkit acceptable, but it can at least claim a pure motive. Not so when you're telling grandma that she's getting a security fix just to give her spyware instead.

It's all in the name

[nizo]

...Conspy & Co. Inc....

Now there is a great name for a company! Could it be any more obvious their products contain spyware????

Re:It's all in the name

[phpm0nkey]

Apparently these people didn't finish business school. If you're trying to get away with pushing spyware, it's probably best not to put the words "con" and "spy" in your company name.

Re:It's all in the name

[FidelCatsro]

The missing letters are surpassingly similar to Iraq phonetically

Re:It's all in the name

[PaxTech]

It was all the idea of their law firm, Dewey Cheatem & Howe.

Re:It's all in the name

[sconeu]

Not to mention their second opinion law firm:

Takeda, Monet, and Runne.

Ring Tones

[Anonymous Coward]

I think people downloading obnoxious ringtones got what they deserve...

Dear Sony...

[Picass0]

If I had my way, Sony would be held accountable in a similiar manner. While these companies installed spyware, Sony actually installed a backdoor. Sony's actions are a violation of a far greater magnitude.

Re:Dear Sony...

[StonedRat]

Sony have more money though. Money == Power.

Re:Dear Sony...

[kmahan]

You seem to be forgetting that Sony has a lot more money to buy off people in the Congress. So they have "friends" like Orrin Hatch to look out for them.

And their botnets dismantled or ?

[external400kdiskette]

Couldn't they just shift their online resouces and reincorporate offshore otherwise ... it's not like their resouces cant be moved or something.

Enternet 300?

[planetoid]

Is this the same Enternet company who wrote the simple Enternet 300 DSL connection program for routerless users? I remember my ISP would bundle that program with the DSL modems you got for free when you signed up for broadband (are they called DSL "modems" or something else? lol). I wonder how far back their affiliation in spyware goes... I might have to dig up my old computer and take a look-see :/

Re:Enternet 300?

[BushCheney08]

Admittedly, the Enternet 300 program was a PPPoE client, which was necessary at a time when PPPoE wasn't natively supported in the OS. As for the "modem" thing, they're actually transceivers.

Re:Enternet 300?

[Animats]

No, Enternet 300 came from Efficient Networks, and Siemens now owns and supports the Enternet 300 product line.

If anybody cares, there's still a Enternet 300 support site.

'bout time...

[Mister White]

Now, let's go ahead and shut down GAIN and all these 'websearch' places, and we'll be doing something. I see the auto-installing IE websearch bars and the "internet optimizer" wares to be some of the most vicious of all spyware. It's beyond intrusive, and downright annoying. Who wants to continually "uninstall" all of these?

Re:'bout time...

[Anonymous Coward]

I see the auto-installing IE websearch bars and the "internet optimizer" wares to be some of the most vicious of all spyware.

Hey now, let's be fair. One of those programs was kind enough to let me know my computer was broadcasting an IP address. I installed it and now my comp@##@SSN 709 232 129(*&^^uter is secure.

Re:'bout time...

[spooky_nerd]

Hey now, let's not be too hasty. Uninstalling these things is what keeps me busy at work. You might call them malware, but I prefer the term gainfully-employedware.

180solutions not mentioned

[mcguyver]

There is work left to be done!

Does this mean ...

[DikSeaCup]

I won't have to constantly warn the users I support *not* to click on any pop up that says "Your system is unsecure! Click here to secure your system!"

Three Companies Shutdown For Spyware Bundling

[Anonymous Coward]

So is it Mr Furley or the Ropers thats responsible for this?

$sys$Sony

[kyshtock]

Well, I doubt that they will shut down Sony... but some nice fines might be in order. And some regulations on the EULAs. And maybe, just maybe, some modifications on the DMCA.

I wonder what happened... suddenly they started to care about malware...

Re:Spyware

[TwoTailedFox]

Unless you count the money gained by Ad revenue. Or people actually handing $$$ over for Viagra, from a spam email.

Ok, that was an f-up

[barefootgenius]

I withdraw the previous comment totally and irrevocably while beating myself around the head exclaiming stupid, stupid, stupid!

A barefootgenius is != to genius.

They will just reincorporate,perhaps international

[SRA8]

Sadly, these guys will just probably just re-incorporate and continue this nasty business. Reincorporation is simple and can be done quickly. They may even do it internationally to make legal efforts against them costly and time consuming. By the time they are shut down again, they will have run with the money. Sad but quite likely.