Zango Makes Nice with FTC
Zango, the online media company formerly known as adware developer 180solutions, has reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to resolve the investigation into its alleged unfair trade practices.
According to the Center for Democracy and Technology, the advocacy group that filed the complaint with the FTC in January, Zango deceived users into installing intrusive ad serving software onto their systems.
Zango has agreed to hand over $3 million in fines, and the agreement sets legal standards for downloadable adware applications. Zango maintains its innocence, saying that its software delivery system no longer relies on unscrupulous affiliates who modify and distribute Zango software against its policies.
Still, industry analyst and 180solutions critic Ben Edelman tells ADOTAS that hands aren’t completely clean with the re-branding. “180 continues plenty of bad practices, including unlabeled ads, materially misleading installations that fail to disclose key aspects of 180’s effects, and installation attempts predicated on security exploits. I have the proof, and I expect to post this on my website in the coming weeks.” Still, Edelman adds, “I commend the FTC’s efforts here, but serious diligence will be required to assure that 180 actually complies with its many obligations” under the settlement. At this instant, I am confident that 180 is not in compliance.”
In a press statement, though, Zango CEO Keith Smith stated: “Early in our business, and as we’ve acknowledged, we relied too heavily on our affiliates to enforce our consumer notice and consent policies… We deeply regret and apologize for the resulting negative impact. The FTC’s leadership in providing clarity around best practices is a welcome and significant step forward for Zango and our industry. We embrace the new standards and will continue to create, abide by and strive for best practices that protect consumers.”
Reader Comments.
Leave a Comment
Article Sponsor
More News
-
Loading ...
Latest News
- Rebranded Image Space Media Revamps Pub Interface March 16th 2010 ADOTAS – No one at in-image advertising service Image Space [...] more »
- Developers Digging Windows Phone; Microsoft Employees Still Love iPhones March 16th 2010 ADOTAS – I’m sure this dude is on the fast [...] more »
- Yahoo! Embraces DSPs March 16th 2010 ADOTAS – Discussions with marketers, agency partners and tech providers [...] more »
- Twitter Knows Where I Am; Gulp March 12th 2010 ADOTAS – I log in to Twitter to share with [...] more »
- WWN Has a Stopwatch on Ad Visibility March 12th 2010 ADOTAS – Considering how much time people spend online, why [...] more »
- Jumptap Offers Self Service Lane March 12th 2010 ADOTAS – Possibly inspired by those neat-o self checkout lanes [...] more »
- AdPix Barges Into the In-Image Market March 12th 2010 ADOTAS – Watch out, Image Space Media — there’s a [...] more »
Features
- Creative Considerations for the iPad March 16th 2010
- Amazon Leaves Colorado Affiliates Out in the Cold March 12th 2010
- Secret Salsa Recipe: The Best Digital Marketing Mix March 11th 2010
- The Basics of Brand Protection March 10th 2010
- Agencies: Working Hard or Hardly Working? March 9th 2010
Spotlight
AdBidCentral’s CEO, Vivek Veeraraghavan Talks Openly*What was the inspiration to start AdBidCentral? The conditions that inspired AdBidCentral came from a variety of factors in my personal [...] more...
Reader Favorites
Classifieds
- Sr Director, Marketing Services
- Senior Web Analyst
- Account Director
- Director of Analytics
- Manager, Business and Trade Media Relations
Recent Comments
- Gavin Dunaway: They're similar, but Ning is more a competitor to Facebook and MySpace while StumbleUpon considers
- Steve Feldman: Does StumbleUpon compete with and does essentially what Ning networks does?
- Bulent: I wonder how many of the clients would accept a media plan, that would -as
- Nickster: How about we just vote out all of these socialist big government politicians and take
