Internet advertising changes gears
Published: 31 Mar 2004 12:35 BST
n-Case has been installed on 30m PCs, 180solutions' Smith said, and the company plans to "upgrade" those applications in the coming year. He denied that n-Case is so-called spyware.
"We don't collect personally identifiable information... and the user has to give consent," he said.
Smith added that with n-Case, it was more difficult to inform users about the software, because it was bundled with third-party applications. "It's easier to inform people when they're downloading it from content partners," he said.
180solutions could also face legal uncertainties over Zango, given its ability to deliver ads while customers are visiting third-party Web sites.
Similar applications from Claria and WhenU have established unfavourable legal precedents in the arena.
Last week, a European court issued a preliminary injunction against Claria that prohibits the company's pop-up and pop-under ads from appearing over the German rental car Web site of Hertz, without the agency's permission. Similarly, WhenU was hit with a preliminary injunction last December in a case filed by 1-800-Contacts. The judge ruled that WhenU violated 1-800's trademarks by displaying ads atop its Web site.
Yet at least one judge has ruled in favour of WhenU. In November, a federal court judge in Michigan dismissed Wells Fargo's lawsuit to block WhenU's pop-ups, noting that those users who received the ads had consented to have the adware installed on their computer, in exchange for free software from WhenU.
Even if 180solutions gets past the legal issues, it still must woo reluctant advertisers. Jupiter Research analyst Gary Stein said as many as one-third of advertisers have philosophical grievances against adware, and about 8 percent of companies actually have corporate mandates not to advertise with adware companies.
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