Washington gets $1M settlement in first spyware case
Washington’s attorney general has settled the first case prosecuted under the state’s 2005 Computer Spyware Act. The company and president will pay $725,000 in legal fees and $200,000 in penalties, and reimburse the state’s customers $75,000. I’m amazed that out of the $1 million dollars that was handed over only $75,000 will be handed over to the customers.
The settlement. announced Monday, is with antispyware vendor Secure Computer LLC. The White Plains, New York, software company was accused of marketing its product via deceptive spam and pop-up ads, which offered free spyware scans that always detected a problem with the computer that was scanned. The company and its president, Paul Burke, will pay $725,000 in legal fees and $200,000 in penalties, and will reimburse Washington state customers $75,000, said Paula Selis, senior council with the attorney general’s office. “Given the scope of the defendants’ practices and the amount of consumer harm out there, we feel this is a very fair settlement.”
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