FTC Settles Advertising.com Adware Charges

Advertising.com used to give away an anti-spyware program which (clever clever!) installed adware. Now the AOL subsidiary has settled with the FTC and promises to play nice.

The Federal Trade Commission has agreed to a settlement with Advertising.com, also known as Teknosurf.com, over the installation and behavior of its SpyBlast software. SpyBlast purported to be a free anti-spyware program, but using SpyBlast also installed separate software which tracked users online activity, and generated pop-up ads. The FTC alleged Advertising.com didn’t provide users with sufficient notice that SpyBlast came bundled with an adware program.

The terms of the settlement require that Advertising.com “clearly and prominently” disclose adware bundled with other software; further, Advertising.com must comply with record-keeping provisions and other requirements to monitor the company’s compliance with the FTC’s order. Advertising.com did not admit or deny guilt as part of the settlement.

Advertising.com was purchased by America Online, a division of Time Warner, Inc., in June 2004 for $435 million. However, the activity covered by the FTC settlement occurred during 2003, before AOL’s purchase of the company, and AOL is not bound by the terms of the FTC settlement. Advertising.com says it has not distributed adware products since 2003, and has no plans to do so in the future.