• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, January 16, 2005

Adware company 180solutions, under attack by some advocates and the computer security company McAfee, is rolling out a new version of its software that would be less likely to end up on consumers' hard drives without their consent, said company CEO and co-founder Keith Smith.

The roll-out, which started at the beginning of the year, will take about 90 days to complete, said Smith. He said the new product, unlike the earlier version, can't be installed without consumers' consent.

The Bellevue, Wash.-based 180solutions installs ad-serving software on the hard drives of consumers who agree to view ads in exchange for receiving free downloads of games or other software. Company policy requires users to agree to the adware by consenting to the terms of a license agreement, but some 180solutions affiliates have installed the adware without first notifying consumers and obtaining their permission.

180solutions' move comes at a time when adware companies are increasingly under scrutiny. Earlier this month, anti-virus software company McAfee named adware by 180solutions as one of the top 10 threats of 2004. One reason that 180solutions made the list was because its adware occasionally ended up on the computers of people who had never agreed to it, said McAfee at the time.

Smith said that 180solutions tries to police its affiliates--but acknowledged that its efforts have sometimes fallen short. "There have been instances where our affiliates have done that," said Smith, referring to surreptitious installation. He added that 180solutions has sued for such activity.

Adware companies Claria and WhenU have also taken recent steps to polish their image. Claria officials said last year that the company planned to shorten its 6,000-word end-user license agreement to around 2,500 words in an attempt to become more transparent. WhenU has initiated a number of recent moves--including moving its sales team in-house and ceasing to display ads that mimicked the Windows program message "ActiveX" (a real program that alerts users to potential Internet security problems).

Despite 180solutions' recent move to stop rogue affiliates, some critics say the company has a lot to make up for. "They have allowed this to continue," said anti-adware consultant and Harvard law student Ben Edelman, referring to the secret installations by affiliates. What's more, he said, the revision to 180solutions' software is hardly revolutionary. "The improvement they're describing is a completely obvious improvement," added Edelman, who has served as an expert witness in adware cases.

180solutions also announced Friday that it had joined the anti-spyware nonprofit group COAST, or Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology vendors. The group, which now has nine members, studied 180solutions' software, license agreements, and business practices, said Executive Director Trey Barnes.

Barnes said that 180solutions is the first advertising company the group has admitted. Other members of the nonprofit include PestPatrol, Webroot Software, and Aluria Software. 180solutions will pay annual membership dues of less than $10,000, said Barnes.

COAST itself came under attack from Lavasoft, maker and one of the founding members of the adware removal software Ad-aware. In December 2003, Lavasoft announced it was leaving COAST in a dispute about plans to charge members what it termed "exorbitant rates."