We received a tip from a researcher in the spyware community that there was a lawsuit against 180Solutions, DirectRevenue and eXact Advertising. The problem is that it was filed in a small county in California and thus required a small amount of work to get. Nevertheless, with the help of our high priced lawyers, we now have a copy of the suit.
The documents we received also indicate that the defendants are trying to get the lawsuit moved to Federal court.
The lawsuit was filed by attorney Martha Bronson, who apparently has done this before.
A description of this lawsuit from her site:
180SOLUTIONS, DIRECTREVENUE, EXACT ADVERTISING et al.,: This class action lawsuit alleges that these companies violate the general public’s right to privacy and invade the privacy of individuals through unauthorized downloads of adware and spyware. The class action complaint further alleges that the software causes damages to computers by interferring with its processes and sometimes causing the computer to crash, slow or otherwise malfunction. Some of the software is disguised on a person’s computer and near impossible to remove. The lawsuit seeks an injunction prohibiting the dispensing of the software and restitution of all income received from the dispensing of the software or advertising income and to pay the cost of removing or otherwise repairing the damage done to computers.
You can read the lawsuit here (the first several pages is the motion to move the lawsuit to Federal court). I am trying to get a cleaner copy and will post it if I get it.
UPDATE: I have obtained a slightly cleaner copy here. Also, defendants’ “Answer to complaint” here.
Alex Eckelberry