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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap10-23-135116.asp?t=apnew&vts=102320041401

 

Federal judge in New Hampshire orders immediate halt to spyware programs

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CONCORD, N.H., Oct. 23 - A federal judge has ordered a man known as the 
''Spam King'' to disable so-called spyware programs that infiltrate people's 
computers, track their Internet use and flood them with pop-up advertising.

 

     U.S. District Judge Joseph DiClerico issued a temporary restraining 
order Thursday against Stanford Wallace and his companies, SmartBot.net Inc. 
of <>Richboro, Pa., and Seismic Entertainment Productions Inc. of Rochester. 
SmartBot's principal place of business is Barrington. 
       Prosecutors sought the injunction on behalf of the Federal Trade 
Commission, which targeted Wallace in its first anti-spyware action. 
       The judge ordered Wallace to remove software code that exploits 
security holes in computer operating systems and Web browsers, then tracks 
people's Internet use to bombard them with pop-up ads. 
       Wallace also is accused of trying to sell computer users $30 remedies 
called ''Spy Wiper'' and ''Spy Deleter'' that the FTC says don't work. 
       ''Spyware'' describes a broad category of software that can be 
installed through unsafe e-mails or Web pages. It sometimes is bundled with 
other software that consumers download and install, such as file-sharing 
programs that can be used to download music and movies illegally. 
       Spyware programs quietly monitor which Web sites a consumer visits, 
and some may even redirect users to different sites. They can make computers 
sluggish or cause them to crash. 
       ''We see it as good relief for consumers,'' FTC attorney Laura 
Sullivan said of DiClerico's order. She could not say how pervasive Wallace's 
spyware was. 
       Wallace's lawyer, Ralph Jacobs of Philadelphia, said Wallace wants 
''to use the Internet for advertising in lawful and proper ways.'' 
       ''There are a wide range of advertising practices on the Internet that 
use some of the techniques the FTC objects to, and the defendant looks 
forward to an opportunity to establish exactly what advertising practices are 
allowable,'' Jacobs said. 
       Wallace formerly headed a company called Cyber Promotions in the 1990s 
that sent as many as 30 million junk e-mails daily to consumers, earning him 
the nicknames ''Spamford'' and ''Spam King.'' He left the company after 
lawsuits by America Online and CompuServe. 
       The judge scheduled a hearing for Nov. 9. 



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