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Yahoo Faces Class-action Spyware Suit
05 May 2006
Yahoo accused of placing ads on spyware-vendor sites
An antispyware activist and lawyer has filed a class-action lawsuit against Yahoo, accusing the Web heavyweight of placing advertisements on spyware-vendor and "low-quality" sites.
Ben Edelman, a Massachusetts lawyer and spyware researcher, is one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit Monday on behalf of Yahoo advertiser Crafts By Veronica, as well as other advertisers. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, accuses Yahoo and its ad sales subsidiary Overture Services of charging higher rates for ads promised "premium" placement, but then placing those ads on spyware-vendor sites and on Web pages with URLs (uniform resource locators) that are misspellings of popular sites.
A Yahoo spokeswoman wasn't immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit seeks to recover the money advertisers paid to Yahoo for premium, "highly targeted," ad placement at Web sites including ones owned by Microsoft and CNN, Edelman said. Although plaintiffs' lawyers have not released an estimate of damages, it could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, he added.
"It seems like there's a lot of money at issue," Edelman said.
The lawsuit accuses Yahoo of placing ads on sites run by Intermix Media and Direct Revenue, two companies identified in an April lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer as distributors of spyware and unwanted pop-up adware. Both companies have disputed Spitzer's charges.
Edelman agrees with Spitzer's assessment of the two companies, he said. "It's software that at least sometimes gets on your computer without your permission," he said. "It tracks where you go online."
In addition, Yahoo places ads on so-called "typosquatting" Web sites, the lawsuit says. Typosquatters register Web sites that have URLs that are common misspellings of popular Web brands, and many typosquatting sites that Yahoo placed premium ads have long lists of advertisements as their only content, the lawsuit says. Ads placed with Yahoo have appeared on Expedai.com, a typosquatter of the popular Expedia.com travel site, the lawsuit says.
An antispyware activist and lawyer has filed a class-action lawsuit against Yahoo, accusing the Web heavyweight of placing advertisements on spyware-vendor and "low-quality" sites.
Ben Edelman, a Massachusetts lawyer and spyware researcher, is one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit Monday on behalf of Yahoo advertiser Crafts By Veronica, as well as other advertisers. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, accuses Yahoo and its ad sales subsidiary Overture Services of charging higher rates for ads promised "premium" placement, but then placing those ads on spyware-vendor sites and on Web pages with URLs (uniform resource locators) that are misspellings of popular sites.
A Yahoo spokeswoman wasn't immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit seeks to recover the money advertisers paid to Yahoo for premium, "highly targeted," ad placement at Web sites including ones owned by Microsoft and CNN, Edelman said. Although plaintiffs' lawyers have not released an estimate of damages, it could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, he added.
"It seems like there's a lot of money at issue," Edelman said.
The lawsuit accuses Yahoo of placing ads on sites run by Intermix Media and Direct Revenue, two companies identified in an April lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer as distributors of spyware and unwanted pop-up adware. Both companies have disputed Spitzer's charges.
Edelman agrees with Spitzer's assessment of the two companies, he said. "It's software that at least sometimes gets on your computer without your permission," he said. "It tracks where you go online."
In addition, Yahoo places ads on so-called "typosquatting" Web sites, the lawsuit says. Typosquatters register Web sites that have URLs that are common misspellings of popular Web brands, and many typosquatting sites that Yahoo placed premium ads have long lists of advertisements as their only content, the lawsuit says. Ads placed with Yahoo have appeared on Expedai.com, a typosquatter of the popular Expedia.com travel site, the lawsuit says.
MTV Hires MD for Australia and Inks Digital Partnership in Korea
05 May 2006
Global - MTV Networks has announced a new MD for MTV Networks Australia, bringing on board Dave Sibley to lead the MTV and VH1 business in Australia and New Zealand.
Sibley, who has been with MTV for a decade and was most recently Senior Vice President and General Manager, International Marketing Partnerships, assumes his role in July and will be responsible for both the pay television and digital media sectors.
He reports to Nigel Robbins, President, MTV Networks Asia Pacific and will be based at the company's Sydney headquarters -- Sibley takes over the role of Managing Director from Robbins, who was promoted to President of Asia-Pacific in January 2006 following the departure of Frank Brown last September (Marketing Weekly, September 5).
Robbins also announced a reallocation of senior management staff members within the MTV Network offices - Andrew Hoppe, currently Vice President of Programming and Production in Sydney, will relocate to the network's regional headquarters in Singapore in June to take on the expanded role of Vice President, Digital Media and Programme Strategy. He will report to Laurent Verrier, Vice President/General Manager, Digital Media, MTV Networks Asia Pacific. Also, India Bent, currently Vice President, Marketing, Communications and Events Management will now hold the title of Vice President, Talent & Artist Relations (TAR) and Event Management, MTV Networks Asia-Pacific where she will work with MTV's Australian and Asian teams for the MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon events.
Meanwhile, the network has also partnered with Korean multimedia developer Wizmaz to launch a customisable on-demand music and entertainment broadband and mobile community platform in Korea tagged MTV BOOMBOX.
To launch in three phases beginning this month, MTV BOOMBOX will feature a combination of free and paid streaming and downloading services, and allow users to personalise homepages, blog, podcast, and conduct file uploading on their PCs, mobile phones and MP3 players.
This initiative marks MTV's push towards the digital realm, working across online and mobile platforms. A global movement, MTV aims to triple its digital revenue with MTV CEO Judy McGrath and her Digital Media Chief Jason Hirschhorn helming the push towards the new direction. For more on MTV's latest strategy, Advertising Age MediaWorks has the full story.
Sibley, who has been with MTV for a decade and was most recently Senior Vice President and General Manager, International Marketing Partnerships, assumes his role in July and will be responsible for both the pay television and digital media sectors.
He reports to Nigel Robbins, President, MTV Networks Asia Pacific and will be based at the company's Sydney headquarters -- Sibley takes over the role of Managing Director from Robbins, who was promoted to President of Asia-Pacific in January 2006 following the departure of Frank Brown last September (Marketing Weekly, September 5).
Robbins also announced a reallocation of senior management staff members within the MTV Network offices - Andrew Hoppe, currently Vice President of Programming and Production in Sydney, will relocate to the network's regional headquarters in Singapore in June to take on the expanded role of Vice President, Digital Media and Programme Strategy. He will report to Laurent Verrier, Vice President/General Manager, Digital Media, MTV Networks Asia Pacific. Also, India Bent, currently Vice President, Marketing, Communications and Events Management will now hold the title of Vice President, Talent & Artist Relations (TAR) and Event Management, MTV Networks Asia-Pacific where she will work with MTV's Australian and Asian teams for the MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon events.
Meanwhile, the network has also partnered with Korean multimedia developer Wizmaz to launch a customisable on-demand music and entertainment broadband and mobile community platform in Korea tagged MTV BOOMBOX.
To launch in three phases beginning this month, MTV BOOMBOX will feature a combination of free and paid streaming and downloading services, and allow users to personalise homepages, blog, podcast, and conduct file uploading on their PCs, mobile phones and MP3 players.
This initiative marks MTV's push towards the digital realm, working across online and mobile platforms. A global movement, MTV aims to triple its digital revenue with MTV CEO Judy McGrath and her Digital Media Chief Jason Hirschhorn helming the push towards the new direction. For more on MTV's latest strategy, Advertising Age MediaWorks has the full story.