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FTC assasinates Spyware Assassin
censures spokane based company
According to linuxinsider.com, a district court has found that a company called MaxTheater, maker of Spyware Assassin, makes deceptive claims. The FTC is moving to seek redress for consumers and permanently halt the product. (One down, one thousand to go.) On the FTC page on spyware, here, they advise online complaints about a company can be entered into a program called Sentinel: rn.ftc.gov. Sentinel offers some statistics on complaints received and the latest report (unfortunately, over a year old) lists "Internet Auctions" in second place after "Identity Theft". There isn't even a category for spyware! A more interesting report specifically on internet complaints here again shows a lot of money lost in internet auctions and overseas 419 scams. Hopefully the court action signals a new awareness by the FTC into just how much deception (and money) there is in the anti-spyware/malware game.
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kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY

kamm

Member

FTC must catch up...

... because these parasites are getting more and more serious threat for the economy, especially for small businesses.

David
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL

David

Premium Member

Re: FTC must catch up...

said by kamm:

... because these parasites are getting more and more serious threat for the economy, especially for small businesses.
I will agree there... They need to start investigating claims on auctions and such..

The auctions must be ebay...
whocares0
Premium Member
join:2003-07-26
..

whocares0

Premium Member

Re: FTC must catch up...

beachBoy, little by little FTC will catch parasites or "'sic' people trying to get a consumers $$$, but [b]only if WE complain or file a complaint.

Internet auction giant eBay pulls ad for teen's friendship
Internet auction giant eBay has agreed to pull a controversial ad off its website. The ad, which originated here in Houston, offered the friendship of a 16-year-old girl to the highest bidder.The ad had been on the website for nearly a month, but it wasn't until we contacted the company Monday that they removed it and promised a full investigation.

"The person is a sociopath," said Dr. Richard Pesikoff, professor of psychology at Baylor College of Medicine, referring to the person who posted the ad. "They are selling their daughter like you would sell a loaf of bread. "

The ad was pulled by eBay early Monday afternoon after learning the seller not only offered a 16-year-old's friendship, but also provided pictures of the girl, even giving a detailed description of the teen right down to the color of her eyes. The seller even promised the buyer could be friends with the teen on myspace.com, calling the deal an opportunity of a lifetime.

"This is not the place to sell to the unknown general public," said Dr. Pesikoff. "Your audience could include a number of undesirable people."

An investigation is being conducted by eBay to determine if the ad violated any laws. It was pulled because the sale of "virtual" relationships are strictly prohibited. An eBay spokesperson told Eyewitness News "eBay takes the welfare of children very seriously and we strive to ensure that our site does not permit items or listings that could put children at risk."

Before the ad was pulled, one bidder did offer $20 for the friendship. We tried to reach that bidder, but our messages were not returned. We also tried to reach the person who posted the ad, but the person, too, did not return our calls. eBay says they will be trying to track down that seller as part of their investigation..

»www.abclocal.go.com/ktrk ··· =3990694

cableties
Premium Member
join:2005-01-27

cableties

Premium Member

Re: FTC must catch up...

Isn't great how eBay hides behind the guise of "we're a venue, and we are not liable" ???

Don't get me wrong, eBay has helped me sell off alot of otherwise landfill items. But the policies and non-monitoring is ridiculous.

But back to Spyware...

David
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL

David

Premium Member

Re: FTC must catch up...

I would have to agree with ebay as well. I have some leftover wedding stuff from a wedding last year I have (and failed a couple of times) to sell off on ebay. I am shocked no one wants bubbles and other junk that might become a landfill item. But them not being liable... well they could be correct but if they are just a venue then the p2p companies could get away with that too.

elvey
Spamassassin
join:2001-02-17
San Francisco, CA

elvey to David

Member

to David
said by David:
said by kamm:

... because these parasites are getting more and more serious threat for the economy, especially for small businesses.
I will agree there... They need to start investigating claims on auctions and such..

The auctions must be ebay...
Pot... Kettle...

Your employer lets scammers run free on its network. Remember when you told me that a spamming customer of yours had been suspended, and then I got more spam from the same customer on the same IP days later?

AT&T/SBC/PacBell IS a parasite.

Yeah, yeah, you're not in charge...

David
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL

David

Premium Member

Re: FTC must catch up...

I am afraid I don't see the connection between an fradulent ebay auction and a spammer on SBC's network..

if there is a connection please explain, I am curious.

Last I checked I don't think SBC/at&t could kill your account for a fradulent ebay auction. While I am not sure that it is possible, I would not know how it would be..

Please explain how we can, I am only curious..

Tweak
Premium Member
join:2002-06-08
Colonial Heights, VA

1 edit

Tweak

Premium Member

Re: FTC must catch up...

I think he was pointing out how SBC claims to be "anti spam " ,but looks the other way when its customers spam people . Just look at these 96 listings for known spam operations
»www.spamhaus.org look under sbc . Spamming looks to be a lucrative business for SBC. Its ranked number 2 at spamhaus
congrats sbc! Does sbc have an abuse desk, or did Sbc/ATT decided that cost too much money? Did the abuse desk cause a hard ship on ATTs favorite customers?

elvey
Spamassassin
join:2001-02-17
San Francisco, CA

elvey to David

Member

to David
The first line explained the connection. Thought it was obvious....

»www.goenglish.com/ThePot ··· lack.asp

reminds me of another idiom... horse... water... drink...

Willful blindness, IMNSHO.
Px
join:2005-04-30

Px

Member

When will the gears turn

Ok 1 down x to go. So many companies are out there that make this crap ware and the gov does nothing. Oh and about ebay, there is not a day that does by with out me hearing about some one who got scammed on ebay or was charged x amount of dollars because of ID theft or data theft from a major Fortune 500 company. Sad thing is that there are Fortune 100 companies that use spyware and spam as a method of placing advertisements.

Bencoder
@216.135.x.x

Bencoder

Anon

Re: When will the gears turn

Brother, they aren't gonna turn. Here's why....they're pushing the idea that the internet spammer is some whiz kid living at home in his parent's basement. Truth is, the spammers are "legitimate" companies or subsidiaries of "legitimate" companies. While the money is going in the "right" pockets, nothing will ever be done about internet spamming......
LordBritish
join:2003-08-02
Marina Del Rey, CA

LordBritish

Member

SpySheriff is another one - a bad one

SpySheriff needs to be shut down.

Anyone who has been afflicted with SpySheriff knows it's a scam.

1st you get infected with tons of spyware/trojans/viruses and then it downloads and installs this "SpySheriff" that claims it can remove all that crud for a price.

Basically it's holding your computer hostage.

Truly dispicable.

I got rid of it but it wasn't easy

Anyhow, this racket needs to go down.