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Report: Loudeye Seeding File-Sharing Networks With Pop-Ups, Adware

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2005 - 3:19am.
San Francisco -- PCWorld.com recently reported that Overpeer, an anti-piracy firm owned by Seattle-based Loudeye, has been seeding peer-to-peer file-sharing networks with spoof music and video files that launch pop-up ads, install adware and attempt to hijack a browser's home page. When a user downloads such a Windows Media Audio or Video file on a peer-to-peer network and then attempts to open it, the file launches the ads or adware instead of playing back the expected music or video. "Remember, the people who receive something like (the ad-laden media files), in some cases, were on P-to-P, and they were trying to get illicit files," Loudeye vice president Marc Morgenstern told PCWorld.com. Microsoft said it was looking into whether the spoof files violate the terms of its Windows Media licensing. "We wouldn't want to endorse anything that involved delivery of content that appears to be one thing, and then something else is delivered," Microsoft's David Moulton told PCWorld.com. When notified that ads for its company were being launched in this fashion, one company, Kanoodle, promptly had them removed. "Upon detecting or discovering any prohibited distribution activity, we eliminate it immediately," Kanoodle president Lance Podell told PCWorld.com.
tags: Reports | Loudeye | Adware | File-Sharing Networks | Pop-Ups |

Overture to Distribute Paid Listings on Pop-Ups Delivered by Gator

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 7, 2003 - 3:06am.
Pasadena, Calif. -- Overture Services, a provider of pay-for-performance search listings, has signed a three-year agreement with Gator, a provider of online advertising services where pop-up ads for rival companies are served to visitors with the software installed while they are browsing. Under the deal, Overture's pay-for-performance search listings will now appear on the ads served by Search Scout, a new service offered by Gator that serves pop-under ads to users visiting search engines. Redwood City, Calif.-based Gator's controversial ad technology has drawn lawsuits from major publishers, who argued that serving ads for competitors' sites to users visiting their own sites unfairly steals advertising revenue.
tags: Pop-Ups | Overture | Gator |