Microsoft sues alleged spyware pushers
Microsoft on Tuesday filed suit against an individual, Timothy Taylor, and others, accusing them of distributing spyware. Word of the action comes on the same day that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said a federal court shut down the operations of ERG Ventures and Taylor, who is describe as an ERG affiliate.
Microsoft accuses Taylor and the others in its suit of using screen savers and other seemingly benign programs as Trojan horses to surreptitiously install unwanted software on people's computers.
Microsoft helped the FTC in its case against the alleged spyware pushers and seeks damages from defendants on the grounds that their installation practices violate the Washington Computer Spyware Act and the Washington Consumer Protection Act.
Many of the programs used by the defendants were presented as screen savers showing pictures of well-known celebrities such as Jessica Simpson, Microsoft said.
Once installed, the programs would surreptitiously download numerous other programs that bombard users with pop-up ads, track their Internet activity, redirect their browsers to unwanted pages, add icons to the desktop and change the users' Windows Registry settings, Microsoft said.
