directrevenue LLC - the FTC has issued final approval of the $1.5m settlement - BUT THERE WAS A DISSENTER....
Commissioner Leibowitz said:
"The consent order in this matter, to which the Commission has now accorded final approval, includes strong injunctive relief that will put an end to practices that allowed DirectRevenue to foist unwanted software on untold millions of consumers. The injunctive provisions, like those in Zango, Inc., f/k/a 180 Solutions, Inc., will serve as a model to adware companies in future. But the $1.5 million in monetary relief that the Commission obtained as part of the consent order is a disappointment because it apparently leaves DirectRevenue’s owners lining their pockets with more than $20 million from a business model based on deceit."
He then goes on to succinctly express the frustrations felt by so many of us when fighting malware...
"Even apart from the hundreds of thousands of hours people spent closing all of these pop-up ads, how many people lost important data because respondents’ malware crashed their computer? How many people fruitlessly spent time trying to uninstall it? How many people junked perfectly good computers that were so burdened with unwanted adware that they were useless? One consumer captured the frustration and anger that consumers no doubt felt as they tried to deal with DirectRevenue’s malware: “‘You people are EVIL personified,’ Kevin Horton wrote... ‘I would like the four hours of my life back I have wasted trying to get your stupid uninvited software off my now crippled system.’ ... Given the number of unwitting DirectRevenue “customers” – according to the New York Attorney General’s complaint there were more than 150 million software installs, which likely served up literally billions of pop-ups – Mr. Horton’s experience could not have been unusual. Some of the troubles came home to roost: the software made the computer of one of DirectRevenue’s own employees crash four times in one day, and the company had to send someone to fix a computer belonging to one of the company’s venture capital investors."
And finally:
"That said, I cannot support a consent order that requires the respondents – particularly Joshua Abram, Daniel Kaufman, Alan Murray, and Rodney Hook, the officers and owners of DirectRevenue – to pay a total of only $1.5 million. Venture capitalists poured more than $20 million into DirectRevenue, and between the companies’ ad revenues and the venture capital money, millions of dollars flowed into the owners’ pockets – $23 million, according to Business Week. See The Plot To Hijack Your Computer, supra. Settlement always involves compromise, and staff must weigh the advantages of a settlement with the risks and costs of litigation. But in cases like this, I would rather go to trial and risk losing than settle for a compromise that makes an FTC action just a cost of doing business."
Source: http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0523131/0523131Leibowitz070629.pdf
So what do you think? Are Joshua Abram, Daniel Kaufman, Alan Murray, and Rodney Hook laughing all the way to the bank?
How is the $1.5 million to be paid? Let's have a look at the final order...
"A. The payment shall be made by wire transfer or certified or cashier’s check made payable to the Federal Trade Commission, no later than ten (10) days after the date this Order becomes final.
B. In the event of any default in payment, which default continues for ten (10) days beyond the due date of payment, the amount due, together with interest, as computed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1961 from the date of default to the date of payment, shall immediately become due and payable to the Commission."
By my reckoning, the entire amount is due and payable within the next few days - the order became final on 26 June 2007.
Oh, and Commissioner Leibowitz, if you're reading this... I APPLAUD YOU!!!
Source: http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0523131/0523131do070629.pdf