Anti-spyware 'deceiving consumers'

Some companies offering anti-spyware are 'hijacking' browsers to scare consumers into paying for their products, according to an Internet interest group. Some anti-spyware companies are using deceptive practices and "hijacked" Web browsers to scare Net consumers into buying their products, a leading Internet public interest group told federal regulators on Wednesday. In a complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission, the Centre for Democracy and Technology (CDT) said software developer Mail Wiper and its marketing affiliate Seismic Entertainment Productions have misled consumers in promotions for anti-spyware software.

The privacy rights group asked regulators to launch an investigation of Mail Wiper, which produces a product called "Spy Wiper," and Seismic. It wants them to block the companies from using deceptive advertising practices or "home-page hijacking" techniques in the future, according to the complaint.

"It is especially important that the Commission act in this case because there is evidence that a variety of other companies claiming to market 'anti-spyware' software may have begun deploying advertising strategies similar to that used to advertise for Spy Wiper," the group wrote in its filed complaint. "The potential of the Internet will be substantially harmed, if users come to believe that they cannot use the World Wide Web without being subjected to deceptive advertising or be at risk of having the settings on their computers repeatedly changed by the sites they visit."

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