Trio charged in Spyware distribution.L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office has filed criminal charges against three officers of San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Valley-based Enternet Media Inc., accusing them of distributing spyware. It is the first criminal spyware case filed in the state of California. The charges include conspiracy, 24 violations of unauthorized access to computers and four counts of false advertising. If found guilty, the penalties could include up to 25 years in prison and fines of up to $170,000. The defendants, Lida Rohbani Hakimi, Nima Hakimi and Baback Hakimi, are charged with running companies that created spyware programs such as toolbars and fictitious "security programs," that would insinuate in·sin·u·ate v. in·sin·u·at·ed, in·sin·u·at·ing, in·sin·u·ates v.tr. 1. To introduce or otherwise convey (a thought, for example) gradually and insidiously. See Synonyms at suggest. 2. themselves into a computer during the download of seemingly innocuous software, like music files. The toolbars would then track users' Internet activity and transmit data back to Enternet. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the suit, Enternet Media set up affiliate marketing Affiliate marketing is a method of promoting web businesses (merchants/advertisers) in which an affiliate (publisher) is rewarded for every visitor, subscriber, customer, and/or sale provided through his/her efforts. agreements with advertisers that plagued users' computers with pop-up ads and unwanted search results, netting the company millions in advertising revenue. "It's a crime of stealth, and it's one of the many new pernicious crimes that can affect thousands, even millions of people," said Don Kass, supervising attorney in the consumer protection group of the City Attorney's Office. Enternet executives admitted that their software, which has since been labeled spyware, had been installed on 18 million computers worldwide. "Rocky (Delgadillo) has taken a stance on this type of crime, similar to identity theft, where we're going to be tough," Kass said. The charges come on the heels of a 2005 Federal Trade Commission investigation into the company's activities. The FTC FTC See Federal Trade Commission (FTC). filed a federal civil suit in November, raided the company's Canoga Park offices and froze the company's assets. The arraignment A criminal proceeding at which the defendant is officially called before a court of competent jurisdiction, informed of the offense charged in the complaint, information, indictment, or other charging document, and asked to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or as otherwise permitted is scheduled for April 18 in L.A. Superior Court. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion