Lawsuit Against Adware Firm Scaring Off Advertisers

from the know-who-you-partner-with dept

One of the dirty secrets of the adware business is that they get lots of big name companies advertising through them. Those companies like to turn a blind eye on the nastier practices of most of these adware firms and pretend that it doesn't have anything to do with them. In the past, though, there have been some threats from Eliot Spitzer to go after those advertisers, but it seems like it would be quite difficult to do that successfully. Instead, perhaps bad publicity and a bit of pressure can make a difference. One day after 180Solutions finds itself on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit attempt, it comes out that Direct Revenue is whining that the similar lawsuit against them is causing advertisers to bail out. The plaintiffs in the case are apparently issuing subpoenas to the firms that advertise with Direct Revenue, and those legal documents make it more difficult for those advertisers to keep pretending they don't know what's really happening with many of these adware products they support.