FTC Considering Publicly Outing Adware Advertisers

Posted on February 21, 2006

ZDNet reports that U.S. Federal Trade Commission may start providing a list of companies that use adware to advertise their products and services.

Such a move might help in the battle against adware, FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said Thursday at an event here hosted by the Anti-Spyware Coalition. Adware is software that displays pop-up ads on PCs, often after Internet searches.
"I think that could have a beneficial effect," Leibowitz said in an interview. "In this context, maybe shaming a company on how they are spending money might inure to the benefit of consumer's privacy."
The FTC would publicly announce and publish the name of a company that advertises using adware that installs itself surreptitiously on consumer PCs or by using spyware, Leibowitz said. He would recommend publicly shaming advertisers to the other FTC commissioners if the adware problem doesn't decrease, he said.
The idea is a good one, several attendees at the Anti-Spyware Coalition event said. However, Trevor Hughes, executive director of the Network Advertising Initiative, called it "drastic action."

The article says that AOL has a no adware policy and because of this they have to keep a close watch on the third-party company's they use to place advertising on their behalf. Companies could also run into problems if they have an affiliate program and in affiliate is using adware without their knowledge. But overall this does sound like a good plan to reduce the adware practice.

SPYWARE AND ADWARE