Originally published February 23 2006
FTC warns advertisers not to use insidious ad-serving software
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The FTC is trying a new tactic in its battle against adware: Public humiliation. FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz has said: "In this context, maybe shaming a company on how they are spending money might inure to the benefit of consumer's privacy."
Such a move might help in the battle against adware, FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said Thursday at an event here hosted by the Anti-Spyware Coalition.
The FTC would publicly announce and publish the name of a company that advertises using adware that installs itself surreptitiously on consumer PCs or by using spyware, Leibowitz said.
He would recommend publicly shaming advertisers to the other FTC commissioners if the adware problem doesn't decrease, he said.
"There are well-intentioned advertisers out there that do not understand where their ads are appearing," Hughes said.
Already advertisers face pressure from consumers not to promote their products or services using adware or other software that consumers may not want on their PC, said Jules Polonetsky, vice president of integrity assurance at America Online.
To maintain that policy, the company has to keep close tabs on those companies that handle its advertising, Polonetsky said.
AzoogleAds used to display many of its ads through adware, including software from WhenU.
Today it is limiting that to 5 percent of all ads it serves up, still including WhenU, said Don Mathis, AzoogleAds' chief operating officer.
The ad-serving software is bundled with about 80 other applications, including the BearShare peer-to-peer file-sharing application.
For such applications WhenU enables the publishers to make some money while delivering the software at no cost to users, Day said.
WhenU claims to have cleaned up its act and has abandoned the practices of paying third-party distributors for each installation of its software, essentially promoting surreptitious installs of its application.
Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, in a speech at the Anti-Spyware Coalition event earlier on Thursday, said the FTC would win the battle against adware and spyware.
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