Attention shady affiliates that think you can use deceptive advertising and/or make money by spreading spyware and just fly under the radar. Sometimes it seems that the only time affiliate marketing makes the news is when something like this happens. And we wonder why AM has a bad rep!
3 California affiliates and advertisers were charged this week by attorney general Rob McKenna for violation of Washington state's showcase new Computer Spyware Act. They are accused of using deceptive practices to market Spyware-scan programs. They are also charged with violating the state's Consumer Protection Act. If they are found guilty they could be charged $100,000 per violation of the Computer Spyware Act and $2,000 per violation under the Consumer Protection Act plus also may have to pay compensation to affected consumers. In fact they encourage consumers to come forward and file a claim.
ConsumerAffairs has the details including the software that was marketed, the names of the accused and all the software that was involved in this case, which were all primarily registry cleaners, some of which were bundled with a home page jacking program. So if any of you guys promote that type of software, you should read up for sure.
McKenna said, "Internet advertisers and product sellers can no longer treat the Web as the Wild West where anything goes... Affiliate marketers are able to remain anonymous in many cases, but they're not out of reach of the Attorney General's Office. Neither are product sellers; they can be held liable for the illegal advertising of their affiliates."
"Affiliate marketing is proliferating on the Internet because it's a cheap form of advertising for product sellers," said Assistant Attorney General Katherine Tassi, of the Computer Protection High-Tech Unit. McKenna said."
Affiliates can be held accountable.
Selling scummy spyware filled downloads doesn't pay
and neither does deceptive advertising.
3 Affiliates Busted - $100,000 Fines
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