An anonymous reader writes "Washingtonpost.com is reporting that adware purveyor 180Solutions has finally decided to stop letting third-party companies install their programs for commission without 180's approval. The story says 180 announced the move after pressure from public interest groups who threatened to file a formal complaint with regulators at the Federal Trade Commission."Ads_xl=0;Ads_yl=0;Ads_xp='';Ads_yp='';Ads_xp1='';Ads_yp1='';Ads_par='';Ads_cnturl='';Ads_prf='page=article';Ads_channels='RON_P6_IMU';Ads_wrd='software';Ads_kid=0;Ads_bid=0;Ads_sec=0; 180 Solutions Cuts Back on Spyware Installs Log in/Create an Account | Top | 158 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 158 comments 0: 153 comments 1: 118 comments 2: 81 comments 3: 28 comments 4: 18 comments 5: 9 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Please (Score:4, Insightful) by temojen (678985) on Tuesday October 11, @08:03PM (#13769928) (Last Journal: Tuesday October 18, @06:06PM) File anyways. [ Reply to ThisRe:Please by aussie_a (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @08:43PMRe:Please by Red Alastor (Score:3) Tuesday October 11, @08:47PMRe:Please by minus_273 (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @09:04PM Re:Please (Score:4, Informative) by yurnotsoeviltwin (891389) on Tuesday October 11, @10:02PM (#13770512) (http://www.localdisturbance.com/) well technically, they don't provide spyware. They provide adware. There's a difference, not that anyone really cares. They both suck just as bad too me. [ Reply to This | Parent1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Please by zoogies (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:25PMRe:Please by ikkonoishi (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @12:00AMA Little Misleading by iamlucky13 (Score:3) Tuesday October 11, @10:57PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Oblig. (Score:1, Offtopic) by AAeyers (857625) on Tuesday October 11, @08:03PM (#13769932) (Last Journal: Tuesday April 12, @06:24PM) Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.This time it makes sense! [ Reply to ThisActually . . . by EraserMouseMan (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @09:00AM Good. (Score:1) by TehNSA (905740) <naehva@gmail.com> on Tuesday October 11, @08:04PM (#13769933) The closer we get to a spyware-free world, the better. [ Reply to This Somehow I doubt getting approval will be very hard (Score:4, Insightful) by Clockwurk (577966) * on Tuesday October 11, @08:04PM (#13769935) (http://www.neowin.net/) What good is peddling scumware if you can't get ppl to bundle it? [ Reply to ThisThat's OK by temojen (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @08:05PM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Better Ideas (Score:5, Interesting) by Scoria (264473) <slashmail@IIIini ... inus threevowels> on Tuesday October 11, @08:09PM (#13769966) (http://www.initialized.org/) Interestingly, I've noticed that spyware developers only tend to change once they've developed a "better" idea, and rumor has it that a couple of original equipment manufacturers are now installing MyWebSearch [google.com] by default.Could it be that some spyware manufacturers are taking the good press while they can, knowing that their current method of installation won't really last? Could they be looking to bypass end-user installation altogether? [ Reply to ThisRe:Better Ideas by cbreaker (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @08:29PMRe:Better Ideas by loxfinger (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @09:08PMRe:Better Ideas by bhtooefr (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:53PMRe:Better Ideas by DMUTPeregrine (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:59PMYeah... by Auraiken (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @02:56AMRe:Yeah... by bhtooefr (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @05:38AMRe:Yeah... by bhtooefr (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @05:42AMRe:Better Ideas by The NPS (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @12:55AMRe:Better Ideas by grubbymitts (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @06:31AMRe:Better Ideas by Vexar (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @08:40AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.1 reply beneath your current threshold. Re:Better Ideas (Score:4, Informative) by Cylix (55374) on Tuesday October 11, @10:12PM (#13770558) (http://www.notacult.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday March 07, @12:05PM) While it's too late now.I'm fairly certain that low end Dell's now ship with it. They have a lot of stuff installed... even Office trial that can be purchased. I'm not sure, but I think WP was the full version, but only included on CD.So yeah, that might explain the price break on the new equipment and boy does it slow them down. So of course I wipe and reinstall... then create an image disk for all of the systems.Unfortunately, I can't go back and confirm it on the dozen new systems, because they no longer have the factory install. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Better Ideas by bcat24 (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @10:24PMRe:Better Ideas by saskboy (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @10:23PMRe:Better Ideas by irc.goatse.cx troll (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @10:58PM They Should be in Jail (Score:5, Insightful) by PingXao (153057) on Tuesday October 11, @08:11PM (#13769978) So they get to continue pushing their crap and the only difference is that the CSO - Chief Sleaze Officer - must personally approve every payload turd. Fantastic. They need to be shut down, not threatened with a slap on the wrist. [ Reply to ThisThere *should* be a lawsuit... by Chordonblue (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @09:57AM Bad for digiticians! (Score:3, Insightful) by Douglas Simmons (628988) on Tuesday October 11, @08:11PM (#13769980) (http://assambassador.com/) Hey, I'm as glad as the next guy to kick spyware writers in the teeth, but we the slashdot readers are a group most densely than any other made up of people who are paid good cash money (sometimes sex!) to clean this crap out of people's computers. Just as Microsoft is capitalizing like a mafia on protection from viruses for money, a market created from writing crappy operating systems, we the slashdot lobby should push for "free speech" rights of the malware industry. [ Reply to ThisRe:Bad for digiticians! by Frogbert (Score:3) Tuesday October 11, @08:21PM Re:Bad for digiticians! (Score:5, Funny) by Supurcell (834022) on Tuesday October 11, @08:37PM (#13770138) Fixing computers for sex! Where the hell are you fixing computers? A porno set? "I got a call that someone had a problem with their computer.""I called. I don't think this big, floppy disk will fit in my tiny drive.""Don't worry, I'll make it fit. Looks like you have some backdoors on here too." [ Reply to This | ParentA floppy disk? by mi (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:58PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Bad for digiticians! by lordofthechia (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @10:21PMRe:Bad for digiticians! by HerbieStone (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @02:45AMRe:Bad for digiticians! by nyri (Score:3) Wednesday October 12, @07:22AMRe:Bad for digiticians! by gstoddart (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @03:59PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. re: free speech for malware authors? (Score:5, Insightful) by King_TJ (85913) on Tuesday October 11, @08:27PM (#13770084) (http://home.swbell.net/kingtj | Last Journal: Thursday October 07, @09:33PM) What a crappy attitude! You're comment makes you look like an embarassment to I.T. I do get paid good money to clean up spyware/malware problems as part of my job. I do on-site PC service and consulting for a living. But like I tell lots of customers, I'd *much* rather being doing something else for my money. Frankly, it's boring, and sometimes even tedious work. Here you are, on the clock, waiting for several scanners to go through every single file and folder on their hard drives - and in some cases, doing a bunch of manual registry editing and searching too. Hours can easily go by, especially when the customer has a slower computer, and you're just praying the machine doesn't decide to freeze up in the middle of one of these scans, or else you've got to start it over from the beginning again! Meanwhile, you're starting to wonder how you're going to justify billing the person for all this time that's going by - when charging your normal hourly rate is starting to mean charging more than their system is even worth!Just as I have no desire to join the mafia and extort money from people, I don't enjoy billing high rates to customers who were victimized by malware when all they're trying to do is struggle by on their 5 or 6 year old PC, reading their email and typing up papers.In fact, I've often ended up trying to "do the right thing" and only charging them a more reasonable price, which meant I got seriously short-changed for my time spent. But I guess I just can't stomach the idea of taking some retired lady's entire pension for the month just because some asshat like 180 Solutions tossed their crap-ware on her computer when she thought she was just downloading a pretty waterfall screen saver or something. [ Reply to This | Parent Re: free speech for malware authors? (Score:4, Insightful) by RM6f9 (825298) <rwmurker@zwallet.com> on Tuesday October 11, @08:39PM (#13770153) (http://www.delpradopress.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday October 06, @05:06PM) Try a KVM switch - thanks to them, it's entirely possible to be cleaning 8 computers at a time - charge each owner 1 hour's labor, lather, rinse, repeat as necessary. Housecalls extra, of course, but with the right scheduling, you can stay as busy as you want, and not feel as much guilt over your charges. [ Reply to This | ParentRe: free speech for malware authors? by RobertLTux (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @09:02PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by dbIII (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @10:01PMIt's called 'estimates' by geekoid (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:03PMAnother approach at solving your malware problems by cached (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @09:05PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by 1336 (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @10:14PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by ikkonoishi (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @12:07AMRe: free speech for malware authors? by 1336 (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @01:38PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by Billly Gates (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @10:16PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by Jeff DeMaagd (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @10:27PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by Mister_IQ (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @10:47PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by Billly Gates (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @10:49PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by zvar (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @10:55PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by Mister_IQ (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @10:57PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by CharlesDonHall (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @11:23PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by ankarbass (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @03:03AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re: free speech for malware authors? by Slime-dogg (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @11:02AMre: different job? by King_TJ (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @01:32PMRe: free speech for malware authors? by roger_and_out (Score:1) Thursday October 13, @03:46AMRe: free speech for malware authors? by BobTheAtheist (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @02:54AMRe: free speech for malware authors? by jred (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @10:51AM5 replies beneath your current threshold.Re:Bad for digiticians! by temojen (Score:3) Tuesday October 11, @09:08PMRe:Bad for digiticians! by Feanturi (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @11:30PMRe:Bad for digiticians! by Aenema (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @09:28PMRe:Bad for digiticians! by Jeff DeMaagd (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:32PM No, thanks (Score:4, Insightful) by Moraelin (679338) on Wednesday October 12, @04:43AM (#13771793) (Last Journal: Monday June 21, @05:25PM) See, even without going into what's morally wrong with that attitude (it's been said already anyway), it's a piss-poor use of my time anyway.1. It's not the job I wanted to do. If I wanted to clean up crap, I'd be a janitor. I'm a programmer. There's a difference. I'd rather spend my time coding or playing a game, than searching through someone's registry for crap(The same goes, btw, for crap like "I bought an ancient scanner at a flea market. Can you please make it work?" Then it turns out it's an ancient SCSI model from back in the DOS times, that nowadays the manufacturer doesn't even admit ever having sold.)2. How much _do_ you get paid for it anyway? If I were to charge someone, say, my consultant fee for that time (as an arbitrary measure of my time's worth: that's how much I'd get paid at work for that time), chances are they could just buy a new computer, including OS, for that money.In practice most people I know get paid some token price, if at all. Even on /. pretty much _the_ standard post about it is along the lines of "yay, I got a pizza for fixing their computer". Or a beer, or a homecooked meal, or whatever. I'm sorry, unless you're a teenager without an allowance or living on a 1-2$ per hour wage in East Elbonia, that doesn't even start to be adequate compensation. Taking a part time job at McDonalds would likely pay more money per hour than that.And let's go back to the "if at all" part. What most people seem to want isn't to pay a professional to have their computer serviced, but to mooch some free repairs off a nerd who (in their opinion) had nothing better to do with his time anyway. Asking for money, more often than not won't get you paid, it will just get them offended. (Though on the bright side, sometimes they're offended enough to stop asking for free tech support.) [ Reply to This | Parent Why threaten anything? (Score:5, Interesting) by Evro (18923) <evandhoffman@@@gmail...com> on Tuesday October 11, @08:12PM (#13769986) (http://www.evanhoffman.com/news.php | Last Journal: Monday February 14, @12:15PM) The story says 180 announced the move after pressure from public interest groups who threatened to file a formal complaint with regulators at the Federal Trade Commission."Why bother threatening anything? Why not just file the complaint? [ Reply to ThisRe:Why threaten anything? by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @08:15PM Re:Why threaten anything? (Score:5, Interesting) by LePrince (604021) on Tuesday October 11, @08:22PM (#13770056) Because when getting in front of the judge, you can say that you did everything you could outside of the courtroom to prevent this to getting to a courtoom, and failed because the other company refused to comply.Otherwise you might end up in court, screaming, then when the defending party comes in, they will say "Oh, that's why I'm here ? Well, yeah, sure, why not, I don't mind, I'll do it". Then you look like a complete asshat who didn't want to resort to something OTHER than the court...One of my friend is sueing someone for fraud (2000$) and as the policeman said, "Do everything you can (legally of course) to recover the cash. If talking doesn't work, THEN we'll file in a legal criminal complaint and it'll go to court. Because if you go to court and she simply agrees to pay, you look like the dumbass. [ Reply to This | Parentsmall claims court etc. by SuperBanana (Score:3) Tuesday October 11, @09:50PMRe:Why threaten anything? by Evro (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @09:58PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Why threaten anything? by geekoid (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:06PM Too little... (Score:5, Insightful) by redheaded_stepchild (629363) on Tuesday October 11, @08:13PM (#13769999) ...so horribly, horribly late. Do these impotent bastards actually think this is going to make people *want* to use their software, or are they just trying for some positive PR spin? I can think of a lot of other ways clients have gotten 180Solutions' junk on their machines, and IST was only the most voracious. Let's not forget this has been going on for a few years now, too. Did they never see ISTbar installed on their own machines? That would be kinda funny, now that I think on it. [ Reply to This Re:Too little... (Score:5, Insightful) by rholliday (754515) on Tuesday October 11, @08:52PM (#13770226) (http://www.slashdot.org/~rholliday/ | Last Journal: Thursday September 01, @11:38AM) It can work. Remember that we're dealing with the general public here. We as technicians know spyware companies' names by heart because we deal with them hand's-on. The end user just knows "it was slow and had popups" and we subsequently "fixed it."Example: eAnthology/eAcceleration/Stop Sign, etc. I remember removing tons of their spyware apps. Now they advertise on national television for their Anti-Virus packages, claiming to "make it faster than the day you got it." Did they clean up their act? I have no idea, frankly. But I know people are buying it. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Too little... by ZachPruckowski (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:10PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. This is slashdot worthy? (Score:1, Flamebait) by zegebbers (751020) on Tuesday October 11, @08:14PM (#13770004) (http://www.boozeplus.com/) An advertiser decides to choose who to distribute their ads through! The cut back looks like it would be minimal. All they're doing is requiring that third parties get permission! There's a million more companies our there that will pay to have their spyware installed using dodgy techniques. [ Reply to This Let this company die (Score:4, Insightful) by bhav2007 (895955) <`bhav2007' `at' `houston.rr.com'> on Tuesday October 11, @08:19PM (#13770041) Comanies like this make my blood boil. I am planning to be a CS major in college, and I just can't understand how anyone could willingly work to make this kind of product. Have they actually fooled themselves into believing that one of their toolbars is helping people? I couldn't. It flattens me that someone could go on working to create something which is completely useless and harmful. I can only conclude that whoever is working at these companies must either be starvingly desperate for work or just hateful. Maybe that is where bad programmers go when they die. "Welcome to hell, now you will be forced to create spyware for all of eternity! Mwahahahahaha!".Also, why exactly should we care if this company is "turning around"? There are plenty of struggling software companies which haven't infected anyone. It seems pretty much impossible that one of these establishments could ever produce something useful. Do programmers have any kind of vigilante justice? ;) [ Reply to ThisRe:Let this company die by heelios (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @08:30PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Let this company die by superpulpsicle (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @08:34PMRe:Let this company die by dohzer (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @08:42PMRe:Let this company die by cybergrunt69 (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @08:43PMRe:Let this company die by nihaopaul (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @02:28AMRe:Let this company die by The Queen (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @09:02AMHm, morals or starve? by dptalia (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @10:31AMRe:Let this company die by sco08y (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @01:14PMRe:Let this company die by bhav2007 (Score:1) Saturday October 15, @02:54AM2 replies beneath your current threshold. My Portfolio! (Score:2, Funny) by dogbreathcanada (911482) on Tuesday October 11, @08:38PM (#13770146) What?!? Now my 180Solutions stock will be worthless. [ Reply to This Spyware vs. Adware (Score:2, Informative) by NcF (847200) on Tuesday October 11, @08:43PM (#13770169) (http://nothingcanfulfill.numbinside.net/) Ok, lets get one thing straight.Spyware = Gets information from your computer that you would not want some random schmuck knowing.Adware = Shows an advertisement.Malware = Does bad things to your system/configuration.This article has successfully misused the term spyware once again. Just because adware often contains spyware, or acts as a gateway and downloads/installs spyware on yoru machine, does not make the adware itself spyware.If you are going to use the terms, please use them correctly.From the article: ad-serving software (labeled by some as "spyware") [ Reply to ThisRe:Spyware vs. Adware by entrigant (Score:3) Tuesday October 11, @08:50PMRe:Spyware vs. Adware by NcF (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @09:15PMRe:Spyware vs. Adware by BCW2 (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @12:54AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Spyware vs. Adware by strider44 (Score:3) Tuesday October 11, @09:30PMRe:Spyware vs. Adware by StarvingSE (Score:1) Tuesday October 11, @09:46PMRe:Spyware vs. Adware by m50d (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @04:42AMLinguistic shifting can have profound effects... by cr0sh (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @01:52PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. 180 Solutions (Score:1) by Belldoor (922110) on Tuesday October 11, @08:43PM (#13770176) Are we talking here about the same 180 solutions that would never install spyware using the holes of internet explorer [benedelman.org]? [ Reply to This 180's nonconsensual installations -- video proof (Score:5, Interesting) by bedelman (42523) on Tuesday October 11, @09:01PM (#13770266) (http://www.benedelman.org/) Yes, this is the same 180solutions whose software has been so frequently observed to become installed through security exploits.Most recently -- just last week! -- I posted video proof showing 180 installing even after users specifically decline and refuse 180. Details [benedelman.org].Too little too late, indeed! [ Reply to This | ParentRe:180's nonconsensual installations -- video proo by xerxesVII (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @02:32AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:180 Solutions by FLEB (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:27PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. I knew a guy... (Score:2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11, @08:50PM (#13770212) ...who works for 180solutions. Well, I didn't really know him until I flamed him on full-disclosure for working for 180solutions, but that's beside the point. This guy was totally for 180solutions! I could hardly believe my ears... er.. eyes! I reminded him of the incident where 180solutions was using browser flaws to install adware on victims' machines [grok.org.uk], yet he had "no recollection of any such event" (even though it was all over the internet and widely discussed on security mailing lists). The nerve of some individuals... Some people just deserve to be shot. [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. makes sense now (Score:4, Informative) by fearanddread (836731) on Tuesday October 11, @09:01PM (#13770268) Makes more sense when you see the update at the bottom of the article:"UPDATE, 5:44 p.m. ET: Spyware researcher Eric Howes points out that it is perhaps clearer to say that 180 will no longer allow third parties to install its software unless the method of install is first approved by 180. More specifically, the company will no longer let third-parties install its software via "ActiveX," a component included in Internet Explorer that spyware purveyors commonly abuse to install their wares with little or no interaction on the part of the user." [ Reply to This Wait.... (Score:2, Funny) by emrysk (787256) on Tuesday October 11, @09:05PM (#13770290) 180 solutions to cut back on spyware? Isn't that a little excessive? [ Reply to This summary wrong (Score:1, Redundant) by minus_273 (174041) <anurodhp@@@SPAM...yahoo...com> on Tuesday October 11, @09:07PM (#13770301) The submitter didn't read the article or misunderstood it. If you read TFA you see tht they ar still allowing spyware installs."  it is perhaps clearer to say that 180 will no longer allow third parties to install its software unless the method of install is first approved by 180. More specifically, the company will no longer let third-parties install its software via "ActiveX," a component included in Internet Explorer that spyware purveyors commonly abuse to install their wares with little or no interaction on the part of the user." [ Reply to ThisRe:summary wrong by SComps (Score:1) Wednesday October 12, @10:02AM Isn't this rather like... (Score:4, Funny) by sanx (696287) on Tuesday October 11, @09:15PM (#13770343) (http://www.sanx.org/) 180 Solutions to cut down on spyware installs Isn't this rather like promising you'll only beat your wife once a week from now on? [ Reply to ThisRe:Isn't this rather like... by DaHat (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @09:30PMRe:Isn't this rather like... by Feanturi (Score:2) Tuesday October 11, @11:41PMRe:Isn't this rather like... by ivrcti (Score:2) Wednesday October 12, @11:17AM They'll be back