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Bobby · Dec 31, 2004

http://www.pcworld.com/article/127864-1/article.html?tk=nl_dnxnws

Media Motor creators accused of secretly bundling spyware with free downloads.
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Tuesday, November 14, 2006 08:00 AM PST

A U.S. district court has shut down a Web operation that is accused of secretly loading spyware and other malevolent software onto millions of computers after promising users free screen savers and video files, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Monday.

Judge Howard McKibben of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada issued a temporary restraining order against ERG Ventures and an affiliate on October 31, and an FTC complaint seeks a permanent injunction against the company and affiliate.

Customers Tricked Into Downloading Malware
The FTC accused ERG Ventures and an affiliate with tricking consumers into downloading a piece of spyware called Media Motor, which installs itself and downloads other malware.

The malware was difficult for consumers to remove, the FTC said. The malware installed by Media Motor:

Changed consumers' home pages
Added difficult-to-remove toolbars that display disruptive pop-up ads in consumers' Internet browsers
Tracked Internet activity
Generated disruptive pop-up ads that were occasionally sexually explicit
Added advertising icons to consumers' Windows desktop
Degraded computer performance
Disabled antispyware and antivirus software
Deceptive EULA
ERG Ventures and its affiliate Timothy P. Taylor--doing business as Team Taylor Made--have violated the FTC Act, which bars unfair and deceptive practices, the FTC charged. ERG Ventures and Taylor failed to disclose to consumers that the free software they offered was bundled with malware, and they used a deceptive end user license agreement, which gave consumers the option to halt the installation of all software from ERG, but secretly installed the malware anyway, the FTC said.

The FTC will ask the court to order the defendants to give up their illegal gains, the agency said.

The FTC complaint names ERG Ventures, doing business as ERG Ventures LLC2, Media Motor, Joysticksavers.com, and PrivateinPublic.com, and its principal operators, Elliott S. Cameron, Robert A. Davidson II, and Gary E. Hill, as well as Taylor.

The FTC also asked consumers who have had experience with the defendants to contact the agency with any information that may be relevant to the FTC's lawsuit.

KeeKee · Mar 20, 2006

well thats one down. Of course others will take their place. I wish someone would shut down smiley central.

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

Yes, it would be nice if all of those sites were shut down, but I doubt that it is possible. We just have to be careful what we download and install...

munky2

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Bobby · Dec 31, 2004

Bobby · Dec 31, 2004

And they are:

http://www.spywareguide.com/product_list_full.php?pageNum_Rs1=2&totalR ows_Rs1=365

or: (and they are NOT the same RB) LOL

http://.spamhaus.org/rosko/index.lasso

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Thanks Bobby! BTW the second link doesn't work for me, says page can't be found or something like that.

That site is useful Bobby, but I was thinking more of a list of companies or web sites that trick you into downloading software that is malware infected.

Rolling Eyes

KeeKee · Mar 20, 2006

Here is a site I think does a pretty good job of keeping up with malware
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

Here is their long list of malware products with a column of the sites that produce the products and what the product does.
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm#products

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

That's more of what I had in mind, thanks KeeKee, those are great links

sunny

KeeKee · Mar 20, 2006

Glad you could use them. I rarely use the word anti but I am totally anti spyware.

I remember the days when gator first came out, I thought it was so cool all my passwords would be in one place and I didn't lose them everytime I cleaned cookies.
I didn't have it loaded 15 minutes before it was saying HI !!! and then I couldn't get rid of it or everything that came with it a couple days later I wiped the hard drive.