• ClickZ, Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:15 AM

Adware companies, always a hit with consumers, are back in the news for the wrong reasons these days--unless you're Claria and you've left the business for good, which means you've probably gotten what you might consider "good press." Firms like 180solutions are being revisited in the news for "deceptive practices" and the like, following Federal Trade Commission filings from consumer advocacy groups and new anti-spyware research. (Yes, adware and spyware are still interchangeable terms for some spyware crusaders, who are using both words to refer to software-based marketing.) In fact, the Center for Democracy and Technology recently turned the tables on advertisers who use adware, threatening to expose Fortune 500 companies using adware. Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has recently settled with adware firm Intermix Media, and is in the midst of filing suit against another, Direct Revenue. Media buyers are split, says an industry columnist: many love the irresistible returns gleaned from adware, but others shun the platform altogether because it's so controversial. Perhaps WhenU's approach is the smartest, the columnist says: educate the people and the media, then no one can complain about the format, and WhenU can continue to generate handsome returns for its customers without complaint.

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