Three Companies Shut Down For Spyware Bundling 95
SenseOfHumor writes "A U.S. Court has shut down three companies for secretly bundling spyware. The assets of Enternet Media Inc. and Conspy & Co. Inc., based in California, and Iwebtunes, based in Ohio, have been frozen pending further court action, the FTC said. The court also ordered all three firms to halt downloads of the software." From the article: "According to a complaint filed in district court in Los Angeles, Enternet and Conspy bundled their malicious software with music files, song lyrics and cellular telephone ring tones offered free on a range of Web sites. The software was also disguised as a security upgrade for Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer Web browser."
So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:1)
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:2, Informative)
Getting told off by the President of the United States isn't getting slapped down? No offense, but when the most powerful political figure in the world speaks (save your HHGttG jokes, we've heard them), you had better listen or face the consequences later.
Just because they got slapped down in a fairly "nice" way, doesn't mean that they aren't going to be smarting for a very long time to come.
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:1)
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:2, Offtopic)
No, it isn't. Having executives prosecuted for felonies, exactly as they have earned, is getting slapped down.
If you or I did what they did, it'd be open and shut... and "getting told off" by the president would NOT be one of the things we'd suffer.
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:1)
I seem to have gone off on a tangent. Anyway. It wasn't the President who "told them off" in a fairly nice way.
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:2)
It wasn't Bush, and he (Stewart Baker, Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for policy) didn't mention Sony by name.
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess this episode should become a lesson in all MBA classes. If your company is small then keep your head low and do good business. Once the company becomes big enough, _then_ you get to do the nasty things.
Unless your name is Enron (Score:1)
Re:Unless your name is Enron (Score:2)
But if you're wildly unpopular with the electorate, then your politicians won't stay bought. That's what happened to Enron.
Re:Unless your name is Enron (Score:2)
You still need to be careful. Any politican who will take your money is also likely to be dishonest enough to not stay bought if it comes down to a choice between your cause and their neck.
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So when will Sony BMG be shut down? (Score:2)
Which is why Standard Oil and Carnegie Steel are still the dominant monopolies in their fields.
they think they can hide by pulling their rootkit (Score:2)
with the exception of BMG label Arista's Brian Wilson Christmas Album, that doesn't appear to have the rootkit, and I will buy appropriate copies for gifting. Sony bought BMG a few months ago.
Re:they think they can hide by pulling their rootk (Score:1, Informative)
I hope your post was intended to be funny.
Sony has at various points claimed that there was no rootkit, that it could be uninstalled and that there was no spyware and that Apples are not affected. They have also stated that there is anti-copying technology on all of their CDs. You can safely assume that all Sony/BMG
I'm checking for ish-ware, of course (Score:2)
the local scene is vibrant around the twin cities, but I haven't been lately, so I'm a little out of touch on it. the Cities Sampler should be out, so I can check that, of course. but my list runs from ages 20s to
It's all in the name (Score:5, Funny)
Now there is a great name for a company! Could it be any more obvious their products contain spyware????
Re:It's all in the name (Score:1, Funny)
Actually, yes. It's a little known lie that 'sony' is the Japanese word for "mega-evil installer of rootkits".
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It's all in the name (Score:2, Funny)
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Funny)
Takeda, Monet, and Runne.
Re:It's all in the name (Score:2)
Takeda, Monet, and Runne.
Or the people they contact whenever they need some construction work doing: Bodgit & Scarper Master Builders
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It's all in the name (Score:2)
well, half Italian...
Ring Tones (Score:2, Funny)
Dear Sony... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Dear Sony... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Dear Sony... (Score:2)
Re:Dear Sony... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Dear Sony... (Score:1)
Re:Dear Sony... (Score:1)
Re:Conspy? (Score:1, Redundant)
And their botnets dismantled or ? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:And their botnets dismantled or ? (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Enternet 300? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Enternet 300? (Score:2)
Re:Enternet 300? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Enternet 300? (Score:2)
Re:Enternet 300? (Score:1)
Re:Enternet 300? (Score:1)
No matter--the transceivers for cable internet connections are called "modems," too. I think the two are called "modems" for the same reason WinXP PPPoE connections are called "dialers"--they are easy approximations.
Re:Enternet 300? (Score:4, Informative)
If anybody cares, there's still a Enternet 300 support site. [efficient.com]
Re:Enternet 300? (Score:1)
'bout time... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:'bout time... (Score:2, Funny)
I see the auto-installing IE websearch bars and the "internet optimizer" wares to be some of the most vicious of all spyware.
Hey now, let's be fair. One of those programs was kind enough to let me know my computer was broadcasting an IP address. I installed it and now my comp@##@SSN 709 232 129(*&^^uter is secure.
Re:'bout time... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:'bout time... (Score:1)
Re:'bout time... (Score:1)
IE still has unpatched exploits against it. I almost always does. This is the normal state of affairs.
Duh.
180solutions not mentioned (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:180solutions not mentioned (Score:2)
Then again, it's not surprising that $ dollar signs makes things invisible. Works for hidden shares in Windows, and bribes to Congressmen.
Re:180solutions not mentioned (Score:1)
The hidden windows shares are still advertised by the server, but the windows client ignores them. Try looking at the shares with samba or looking at the network traffic with a sniffer and you'll see the real share list. Gee, does that qualify as a rookit if they're really there but windows is instructed to no show it?
Funny thing is that Windows already hides certain file names anyway. Sony or a virus writer could have simply used one of those.
Re:180solutions not mentioned (Score:2)
Does this mean ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Three Companies Shutdown For Spyware Bundling (Score:3, Funny)
Re: Three Companies Shutdown For Spyware Bundling (Score:2)
$sys$Sony (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder what happened... suddenly they started to care about malware...
They started caring when... (Score:2)
IMHO They missed one (Score:1)
Help the sig the count will be updated weekly.
Re:IMHO They missed one (Score:1)
Ok, that was an f-up (Score:2, Funny)
A barefootgenius is != to genius.
Re:Jack, Janet, and Other (Score:2)
Re:Proprietry vs FOSS/OSS (Score:1)
Re:There _is_ hope! (Score:1)
stop self-medicating and get a job.
Spyware (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:Spyware (Score:2, Insightful)
They will just reincorporate,perhaps international (Score:2, Insightful)
Sony...... (Score:1)
And will Sony risk being shutdown like Enternet media Inc. or the others?
I predict Sony's status as one of the larger corporations around will allow them to buy themselves out of trouble.
Was this the use of "Corporate Death Penalty"? (Score:2)
The case against malicious programmers? (Score:1)
This is not a troll, at least not intentionally, but at what point does malicious programming become a civil or criminial offense for those who know most intimately what the software does and the issues it involves? Intention is a significant part of legal matters, and while I am entirely against "programming malpractice" law