Class action lawsuit against Winfixer
This is one to watch.
Beatrice Ochoa launched a class against lawsuit against "Winfixer" (or more specifically, those behind it) back in September 2006 in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara.
You can check on the latest status of the lawsuit by going to the Public Access Case Information Site and then conducting a search for case number 106CV072057.
There is a Web site devoted to the lawsuit here - sadly, it is has just one entry:
http://fixwinfixer.wordpress.com/
A copy of the originating Summons can be seen here:
http://fixwinfixer.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/summons-complaint-notice.pdf
Interestingly, the Web site cited in the Complaint, which I assume is www.vipfares.com, resolves to localhost (127.0.0.1), just like www.winfixer.com, and immediately piqued my interest because of that (hey, what can I say, I'm easily amused 
)
Let's check out a DNS loolup for www.vipfares.com:
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/lookup.ch?name=www.vipfares.com&type=ALL
Searching for www.vipfares.com A record at m.root-servers.net [202.12.27.33]: Got referral to B.GTLD-SERVERS.NET. (zone: com.) [took 80 ms]
Searching for www.vipfares.com A record at B.GTLD-SERVERS.NET. [192.33.14.30]: Got referral to ns9.nscache.net. (zone: vipfares.com.) [took 278 ms]
Searching for www.vipfares.com A record at ns9.nscache.net. [66.244.254.9]: Got CNAME of one.vipfares.com. and referral to c.root-servers.net [took 125 ms]
Searching for one.vipfares.com A record at c.root-servers.net [192.33.4.12]: Got referral to L.GTLD-SERVERS.NET. (zone: com.) [took 6 ms]
Searching for one.vipfares.com A record at L.GTLD-SERVERS.NET. [192.41.162.30]: Got referral to ns9.nscache.net. (zone: vipfares.com.) [took 22 ms]
Searching for one.vipfares.com A record at ns9.nscache.net. [66.244.254.9]: Reports one.vipfares.com. [took 18 ms]
66.244.254.9 (and 8) has also been reported as being none other than:
Drivecleaner:
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=www.drivecleaner.com
Winantivirus.com:
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=www.winantivirus.com
Errorsafe:
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=www.errorsafe.com
Systemdoctor:
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=www.systemdoctor.com
I'm sure I'd find more after giving it some thought, but are we seeing a trend here?
So far there has been little movement on the Winfixer class action lawsuit, and very little Press about it either. Maybe more attention will now be paid to the lawsuit necausre winfixer has been getting so much press (thanks to the malware adverts appearing in the Windows Live Messenger banner advertisements and various blog spam comments as reported in this blog).
My concern is that Beatrice Ochoa, whoever he/she is, may not go after winfixer with sufficient energy, or keep the internet community as a whole informed about what is happening with the case. I've worked in the legal field for close to 20 years, and would love to know what's going on - for example, please give us details of the Case Management Statement. Tell us what is going on. Also, give us a copy of the amended Complaint.
To be honest, I can't understand why those behind Winfixer would be so stupid as to plant their ads in the Windows Live Messenger advertisements, and especially on *my* blog. Seriously - that is like waving a red flag at a bull and yelling "come 'n' get me", then standing still and letting the bull take all the chunks of flesh it wants.