News Analysis: Civil complaints against Direct Revenue and 180Solutions are seeking class action status. A preliminary ruling could open the floodgates and change the face of the adware/spyware industry.

The legal battle against adware and spyware programs has taken a new turn with a pair of putative class action complaints against Direct Revenue and 180Solutions, two companies facing allegations of installing online tracking software through security holes and making it virtually impossible for computer users to remove the unwanted programs.

Now that a judge has issued a preliminary order to allow one of the cases to proceed to trial, anti-spyware advocates say they believe the tide has shifted dramatically in favor of exasperated computer users.

In the Direct Revenue LLC suit, in which the actions alleged range from installing ad-serving software without user consent to privacy invasion and computer tampering, District Court judge Robert Gettleman ruled that the case can proceed on four of the five counts.

The order was a major blow to Direct Revenue’s request to have the case thrown out. It also may open the floodgates to similar suits against other adware vendors.

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Filed under: Security - @ September 29, 2005 5:57 am