MacKeeper May Have To Pay Millions In Class-Action Suit

jfruh writes: If you use a Mac, you probably recognize MacKeeper from the omnipresent popup ads designed to look vaguely like system warnings urging you to download the product and use it to keep your computer safe. Now the Ukranian company behind the software and the ads may have to pay millions in a class action suit that accuses them of exaggerating security problems in order to convince customers to download the software.

Comments

it can't be true!

[Anonymous Coward]

macs and mac users are prone to the same shady marketing gimmicks and software as windows users? no way. say it isn't so.

next thing you're gonna say they get viruses too? wtf is this world coming to?

Re: it can't be true!

[Anonymous Coward]

Trolls are funny.

Re:it can't be true!

[Anonymous Coward]

I like the one that tells me i have thousands of errors scanning my C: drive, Even the wife laughed at that one, as were a linux only household
 

Re:it can't be true!

[Anonymous Coward]

Even the wife laughed at that one, as were a linux only household

Did they call to tell you?

Re:it can't be true!

[sabbede]

I got a call from "Microsoft tech support". I did everything they asked - I opened a browser, went to the page for the remote support tool, but ran into problems finding the icon they wanted me to click. I explained that Lynx doesn't show icons, and that I couldn't use another browser because I hadn't installed a GUI on that machine. They failed to grasp the implications.

Eventually I grew tired of keeping them on the phone (I was at the office), so I said, "Oh, maybe the problem is that I'm on Linux and you're a lying criminal sack of shit." This amused my coworkers.

$Millions for exaggerating?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nearly half the population is guilty of "exaggerating"

Re:$Millions for exaggerating?

[Paradise Pete]

Nearly half the population is guilty of "exaggerating"

Pffft. More like 101%.

That's it?

[mbone]

They might get fined? That's it?

Can't they be sent to the Eastern Front to fight the Russians?

Re:That's it?

[Anonymous Coward]

With the aggression the Russians are showing under Putin, give it a couple more years and Russia comes to them.

Re:That's it?

[Em Adespoton]

You do realize that MacKeeper is a Russian product, right? Amusingly, Kaspersky is the one AV outfit that outright blocks them.

MacKeeper works via the partnerka system -- affiliate downloads. Many of their affiliates are from the Russian underworld, and own other properties such as porn and warez sites.

Re:That's it?

[NoKaOi]

They might get fined? That's it?

Exactly, "exaggerating security problems" - yeah, how about fraud?

Can't they be sent to the Eastern Front to fight the Russians?

In the USA, they would be given an award and probably sue Apple based on a patent titled "METHOD OF ALERTING USERS TO SECURITY PROBLEMS ON A COMPUTER."

Re:That's it?

[Anonymous Coward]

MacKeeper = Ukrainian

Kaspersky = Russian

Re: That's it?

[MenThal]

Aren't this distinction likely to become a moot point soon anyway? Like the old geography maps we used when I was in school...

Nice

[Anonymous Coward]

So there is justice in the world after all

What, fraud is illegal?

[penguinoid]

Any chance they can do something about all those other fraudulent ads?

Re:What, fraud is illegal?

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

Any chance they can do something about all those other fraudulent ads?

Try using an ad blocker, popup blocker, and NoScript.

If you use a Mac, you probably recognize MacKeeper

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, never heard of it. But I do love Privoxy and NoScript.

Pennsylvania

[CrimsonAvenger]

Class Action Suit filed in PA.

Good luck getting company in Ukraine to cough up any money. It's not like they're part of the EU or something....

Re:Pennsylvania

[sverdlichenko]

In April 2013, ZeoBIT, which now lists its headquarters as Sunnyvale, California, sold MacKeeper to a company called Kromtech Alliance Corp. Kromtech was closely affiliated with ZeoBIT in Ukraine, and many employees of ZeoBIT transferred to the company, which lists its headquarters as Cologne, Germany.

It is exactly like this. And even without it, having this lawsuit settled is cue enough.

Re:Pennsylvania

[qpqp]

Good, so since ZeoBIT is in Cologne and Germany's not in the US either, why should they care about a lawsuit in PA again?

Re: Pennsylvania

[sverdlichenko]

How hard is it to read four lines of text? ZeoBIT is in California and it cares enough to send a lawyer to court, to give up and to agree to put 2 million dollars to the compensation fund. Let me repeat it again: California, settled, 2 million dollars.

Re: Pennsylvania

[qpqp]

I, of course, meant to say Kromtech. No need to go all East-Ukraine-ATO on me. You could have caught that yourself, even if it was a mistake on my part, since you were the one mentioning Cologne. ;)

Re: Pennsylvania

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not his responsibility to read your mind to compensate for your mistakes.

Re: Pennsylvania

[DRJlaw]

Kromtech continues to market the program aggressively and participated at the Macworld conference last year and the Consumer Electronics Show in January in Las Vegas.

I'm guessing Kromtech would like to continue to market in the United States, not have its representatives entangled in in hearings for violating the injunction(s) that will inevitably be sought, and not have any property that enters into or is within the U.S. seized in attempts to satisfy a default judgment against them.

But what do I know...

Re: Pennsylvania

[qpqp]

The context makes this more than clear. Fuck off!

Re: Pennsylvania

[qpqp]

Ah that's interesting, they participate in trade shows... Should've RTFA, I guess. They could just do everything online and not have representatives in the US, as they're shady at best anyway, though.

What about tapatalk?

[Anonymous Coward]

Tapatalk pretty much ruins surfing on mobile would love to see them fined into oblivion.

Yes please

[Trogre]

If this pans out perhaps we can get legal precedence against the horrible online ads that tell you there were 349856 problems detected with your computer.

Re:Yes please

[tlhIngan]

If this pans out perhaps we can get legal precedence against the horrible online ads that tell you there were 349856 problems detected with your computer.

The MacKeeper ads I see plainly advertise MacKeeper as trying to fix the problems, not the fake-popups that scream 6t2987629 problems were detected like on Windows...

Still, it's funny when I see the ads and they say to run their tool. My Mac is so ancient that it's not even running a compatible version of OS X. (Not really Apple's fault here. It's 12 years old now).

Block'em in the host file

[Anonymous Coward]

Part of my regular tech support for friends is to block MacKeeper and their ads.

Re:Starlight Glimmer 2016

[FatdogHaiku]

Kang will eat Starlight Glimmer... and not in a good way...

Profit

[Princeofcups]

Sounds like the standard make $10m in revenue, pay $1m in fines, make $9m in profit. And no one actually goes to jail.

Wait, we can just sue these a-holes?

[sabbede]

That's brilliant!

Can we sue Mindspring next?

Re:Wait, we can just sue these a-holes?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about a class-action lawsuit against the US Govt for exaggerating security problems in order to allow TSA groping at airports and the NSA to look at everything you do, everywhere, all the time?

Mac? I wish.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mac product hell, my kindle gets those popups so often I'm starting to think it's the damn wallpaper.

download.com

[Anonymous Coward]

I think download.com and Google's banner ads should be hit the same way with all the deceptive "download" ads that look too much like the download button you're supposed to click.

Re:Starlight Glimmer 2016

[Anonymous Coward]

I was thinking that a MyCleanPC first post would've been perfect. You ruined it for everyone...

let's keep it rolling

[slashmydots]

How about they also sue out of existence the 10000000000000000000000 companies doing it on Windows systems too? Or just have Obama order a drone strike on Perion headquarters in Redmond, Washington. That ought to to send the right message to scumbag companies like this.

also go after the fake download ad's

[Anonymous Coward]

That make it easy to click on the wrong link on some web pages.

What pop-up ads??

[Cutting_Crew]

Never seen 'em.