Security threats Toolkit

Stealth pop-ups barred

Tags:
Pop-up,
Stealth,
Block,
Ban

Reuters CNET News

Published: 10 Aug 2004 09:50 BST

US regulators said on Monday they had settled charges against a company that they claimed used a little-known Microsoft Windows feature to bombard computer owners with unwanted ads.

The Federal Trade Commission said it had reached a settlement with San Diego-based D Squared Solutions that bars the company from sending pop-up ads via Windows Messenger service.

Windows Messenger allows computer network administrators to communicate with others on their networks but is unnecessary for home users. It is unrelated to popular instant-messaging software such as AOL Instant Messenger.

The issue led Microsoft and others to take steps to prevent the Messenger feature from being used to send pop-ups. Microsoft alerted customers to the Windows Messenger security hole, and AOL made technical changes to its Internet service to stop the flaw from affecting its subscribers.

Pop-up advertising is considered to be among the most effective formats for online advertisers, scoring higher response rates than banner ads. But Web surfers also consider pop-ups among the most annoying online marketing techniques.

The pop-up ads sent via the messenger service by D Squared were used to sell the company's software to block pop-ups. The D Squared ads could appear even when a user was online but not browsing the Web, the FTC said.

The settlement contains no financial penalties against D Squared, and the company admitted no wrongdoing. Representatives of the San Diego-based company could not be reached for comment.

As part of the agreement, D Squared is also barred from selling software to block or send pops sent over a messenger service like Windows Messenger. It has also been banned from sending pop-up ads over instant messenger services, the FTC said.

The FTC said D Squared's pop-up ads appeared as frequently as every 10 minutes in the forefront of screens, causing consumers to lose data and work productivity, applications to freeze, and some computers to crash.

The FTC charged that the practices were unfair and violated US consumer protection law. In November, a federal judge temporarily halted D Squared's pop-up advertising at the request of the agency, but did not extend the injunction.