Non-profit US interest group the Center for Democracy &
Technology (CDT) has also named one of the affiliates in its FTC
complaint, filed yesterday.
The complaint is that certain affiliates of 180solutions'
distribute the company's adware in unethical ways. Method included
security exploits and instant messaging worm attacks. CDT, a group
which "works to promote democratic values and constitutional
liberties in the digital age," says 180solutions acquiesces in
these distribution methods.
“180solutions and its affiliates have caused immeasurable harm,
not just to individual internet users, but to the internet itself,”
said CDT Deputy Director Ari Schwartz. “This company’s brazen
distribution practices saddle innocent internet users with
intrusive software that they neither want nor need and contribute
to a general sense of wariness and distrust that threatens to
stifle the growth of the medium.”
CDT says that it has been investigating 180solutions and its
affiliates for more than two years. During that time, the
non-profit group alerted the company about several of its
affiliates that were deceptively installing 180solutions'
software.
180solutions was initially cooperative, halting certain
practices and even going so far as to file lawsuits against some
affiliates. However, throughout the two year investigation, CDT
says it received a nearly continuous stream of new complaints about
180solutions and its affiliates.
CDT concluded that 180solutions’ underlying business model is
fundamentally flawed, and that until it is changed, consumers will
continue to become unwitting victims of its deceptive software
installations.
“We’re deeply disappointed that we weren’t able to convince
180solutions to clean up its practices,” said Schwartz. “CDT would
always prefer to resolve issues of this sort through dialogue and
voluntary improvements, but in this case we tried and were unable
to reach an agreement that protects consumers.”
