Let be direct here. “Adware” and Spyware companies are slime. There really is no other way to cut it. They are just as bad as spammers, their lowlife cousins. And we as computer users really don’t want to be bombarded with pop up ads every time we try to surf the web, and we really don’t want a hidden piece of software telling us that we need to buy more Viagra, or that we need to play more online poker. When we go to a website to shop or conduct business, we don’t need a piece of malicious software redirecting our queries to the website of an unscrupulous competitor.
But spyware companies are starting to do something that is somewhat beneficial: removing the software installed by competing spyware companies:
The tactic is in the spotlight in a little-noticed legal dispute unfolding in Seattle. Caribbean-based ad company Avenue Media last month accused New York-based DirectRevenue of using competing software to detect and delete Avenue Media’s Internet Optimizer program from its customers’ computers.
According to the Nov. 24 complaint, DirectResponse’s software detects Internet Optimizer and then sends a command to “kill” the program, a process that deletes its files from the PC registry and from the computer altogether. Avenue Media said DirectRevenue’s tactics have caused it to lose about 1 million customers–about half its installed base–and as much as $10,000 a day in revenue.
Oh boo-hoo, losing money that wasn’t legitimatly earned in the first place. Now, if only an “autoimmune” bug of sorts could be introduced into DirectRevenue’s software that makes it mistake itself for a program that should also be “killed…” 🙂