Parnes said the FTC is already has complaints against other spyware scammers in the works. "Note to the purveyors of spyware: this may be our first case, but it won't be our last," she said.
The companies used several tricks to direct victims to their Web sites, which were designed to automatically install spyware on visitors' computers, the FTC complaint said. The sites exploited a feature of Microsoft's Internet Explorer to install the software so that victims never knew that it was being downloaded.
Once installed, the spyware often would open the computer's CD-ROM tray and display a message on the monitor that read: "FINAL WARNING if your cd-rom drive is open you desperately need to rid your system of spyware pop-ups IMMEDIATELY." Consumers who responded to the message were prompted to buy programs called Spy Wiper or Spy Deleter for about $30 each.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/washpost/20041013/tc_washpost/a27637_2004oct12It's about time. The amount of my time running Spybot S&D and Adaware had added up to 100s of pc hours on just my pcs.. We should start sueing them too for hours wasted.
