Blackmailed by Pop-Up Advertising

Windows computer users are fuming over a new breed of pop-up ads with a dubious sales pitch: Buy our software, and protect yourself from pop-ups like this one!

The gray pop-ups, known as Messenger spams, are sent using special software that taps into a Windows feature designed to enable administrators to send messages to users on a network. Not to be confused with the MSN Messenger chat program, the Messenger service is enabled by default on Windows 2000, NT and XP systems, and can be exploited to blast out tens of thousands of pop-up ads per hour.
Advertisers use the technique, also known by spammers as "IP marketing," to hawk everything from weight-loss products to porn. But the most common product touted in recent Messenger service spams, users say, is pop-up blocking software.

"To me this is a form of blackmail. I'm surely not going to pay these people to quit sending me unwanted messages," wrote a user named Jim in a Microsoft security newsgroup.

"Damned if I'll buy preventative from the perpetrators," chimed another participant.

Many of the ads coax recipients to visit messengerkiller.com, saveyourprivacy.com or nearly a dozen other sites operated by San Diego-based D Squared Solutions. The sites sell Message Blocker pop-up blocking software for $30.

"This sales method is strikingly similar to the 'protection' rackets offered to small businesses by organized criminals," wrote one participant about D Squared's pop-ups in a discussion group for Windows XP.

Scott McGowan, D Squared's president, insists that customers "find our product to be extremely useful." The company has sold around 1,000 copies of Message Blocker, with most of the sales generated from pop-ups broadcast by sales affiliates, he said.

McGowan said his company is responsive to users' criticisms about its ads, and in some cases has provided users with a free copy of the software when they complain to the company. However, he acknowledged that the firm's Web page allowing users to opt out of receiving future broadcasts is not working.

D Squared's marketing technique is nothing new -- many spammers today are attempting to sell spam-filtering software. But what makes D Squared's actions particularly egregious, according to some critics, is that it was originally a purveyor of software used to send Messenger spams.