NEWS: Zango, Inc. Settles FTC Charges
News/Web Culture/Marketing/Youth Trends/Adware
Found on: ftc.gov
Will Give Up $3 Million in Ill-Gotten Gains for Unfair and Deceptive Adware Downloads
Zango, Inc., formerly known as 180solutions, Inc., one of the world’s largest distributors of adware, and two principals have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they used unfair and deceptive methods to download adware and obstruct consumers from removing it, in violation of federal law. The settlement bars future downloads of Zango’s adware without consumers’ consent, requires Zango to provide a way for consumers to remove the adware, and requires them to give up $3 million in ill-gotten gains.
According to the FTC, Zango often used third parties to install adware on consumers’ computers. The adware, including programs named Zango Search Assistant, 180Search Assistant, Seekmo, and n-CASE, monitors consumers’ Internet use in order to display targeted pop-up ads. It has been installed on U.S. consumers’ computers more than 70 million times and has displayed more than 6.9 billion pop-up ads. The FTC alleges that Zango’s distributors – third-party affiliates who often contracted with numerous sub-affiliates – frequently offered consumers free content and software, such as screensavers, peer-to-peer file sharing software, games, and utilities, without disclosing that downloading them would result in installation of the adware. In other instances, Zango’s third-party distributors exploited security vulnerabilities in Web browsers to install the adware via “drive-by” downloads. As a result, millions of consumers received pop-up ads without knowing why, and had their Internet use monitored without their knowledge.
Found on: ftc.gov
Will Give Up $3 Million in Ill-Gotten Gains for Unfair and Deceptive Adware DownloadsZango, Inc., formerly known as 180solutions, Inc., one of the world’s largest distributors of adware, and two principals have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they used unfair and deceptive methods to download adware and obstruct consumers from removing it, in violation of federal law. The settlement bars future downloads of Zango’s adware without consumers’ consent, requires Zango to provide a way for consumers to remove the adware, and requires them to give up $3 million in ill-gotten gains.
"Consumers' computers belong to them, and they shouldn't have to accept any content they don’t want," said Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "If consumers choose to receive pop-up ads, so be it. But it violates federal law to secretly install software that forces consumers to get pop-ups that disrupt their computer use."
According to the FTC, Zango often used third parties to install adware on consumers’ computers. The adware, including programs named Zango Search Assistant, 180Search Assistant, Seekmo, and n-CASE, monitors consumers’ Internet use in order to display targeted pop-up ads. It has been installed on U.S. consumers’ computers more than 70 million times and has displayed more than 6.9 billion pop-up ads. The FTC alleges that Zango’s distributors – third-party affiliates who often contracted with numerous sub-affiliates – frequently offered consumers free content and software, such as screensavers, peer-to-peer file sharing software, games, and utilities, without disclosing that downloading them would result in installation of the adware. In other instances, Zango’s third-party distributors exploited security vulnerabilities in Web browsers to install the adware via “drive-by” downloads. As a result, millions of consumers received pop-up ads without knowing why, and had their Internet use monitored without their knowledge.
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