The operators of one of the most notorious pop-up ad schemes of last year
have agreed to discontinue their practices in a settlement with the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC).
According to the FTC, Anish Dhingra and Jeffrey Davis, doing business as D
Squared Solutions, used the Windows Messenger Service feature, typically
used to provide system messages such as completed print jobs, to unfairly
harass consumers with ads for their pop-up blocking software.
The FTC says
D Squared placed their “stop pop-ups” ads near the center of users’ computer
screens, blocking the users’ work. The primary goal of the operators was to barrage
consumers’ computers with pop-up ads so they would purchase the pop-up blocking software sold by D Squared.
The ads appeared as long as the users were connected to the Internet,
causing particular trouble for those always connected with DSL
lines or cable modems. After selling consumers the $25 to $30 pop-up blocking
software, the FTC says users continued to be hit by the pop-ups, even when
they were offline and working in other applications, such as word processing
or spreadsheet programs.
The agency also claims D Squared sold or licensed its pop-up-sending
software to other people, allowing others to use the same intrusive scheme
to send millions of additional pop-ups.
The FTC in November charged that the practices were unfair and violated the
FTC Act. The settlement announced Monday ends that litigation against D
Squared Solutions, Dhingra and Davis.
The settlement bars the defendants from sending Windows Messenger Service
pop-up advertising and from sending instant message advertising. It also
bars them from advertising, promoting, marketing or selling Windows
Messenger Service pop-up-blocking software or Windows Messenger Service
pop-up-sending software. It requires the defendants to provide an opt-out
mechanism for electronic advertising and bars them from using deceptive
return addresses in their e-mail.