If you think spyware advertising is brought to you by the fly-by-night universities and homeless real estate agencies that are featured in such programs, a class-action lawsuit before the U.S. District Court of New Jersey may change your mind.
Yahoo, the search engine giant, is being sued for allegedly placing ads with spyware companies without the knowledge (and against the implicit wishes) of the advertisers.
In addition, suit claims that Yahoo has placed ads on “typosquatting” Internet sites-that is, sites with addresses that are only a mistaken keystroke or two away from more popular pages. Many of these typosquatting sites are used exclusively as advertising platforms.
The lawsuit goes on to allege that Yahoo manipulates advertising exposure by varying the ads’ placements. Collectively, such actions could violate several laws and statutes.
The suit is being filed by Ben Edelman, a Massachusetts lawyer known for his antispyware stance. Edelman says Yahoo placed advertisements with spyware vendors when the search engine corporation was paid to give the ads more mainstream and reputable exposure. He seeks to recover the advertisers’ misspent funds, hinting that there is a “lot of money” involved, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars.
The two companies Yahoo is accused of conspiring with are Intermix Media and Direct Revenue, which have been named in other lawsuits against spyware and adware vendors. The companies have contested these claims, and are still in court over the issue.
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Doug is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest eBusiness news.
