Dutch Regulator Slaps Spyware Purveyors With €1m Fine
Jan Libbenga writes on The Register:
Telecoms watchdog OPTA has fined three Dutch firms and their two directors a total of €1m for the illegal distribution of spyware.More here.
It is the first time OPTA has imposed fines for spreading malicious Trojans, and has been called "one of the biggest cases of illegal software crime", by the regulator.
In 2005, the two unnamed businessmen distributed software called DollarRevenue among millions of internet users. Approximately 450 million software files were installed on 22 million computers in the Netherlands and abroad.
The adware application silently downloaded advertising software and installed it to the computer without the user's knowledge. DollarRevenue was also bundled with some ad-supported products and was extremely difficult to remove.
The software was also directly linked to certain botnet attacks, with over 7,700 machines hacked within 24 hours.
posted by Fergie @ 12/18/2007 12:16:00 PM
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