The Federal Trade Commission has asked a U.S. District Court judge to halt an operation that secretly installed spyware and adware that could not be uninstalled by the consumers whose computers it infected. The defendants used the lure of free software they claimed would make peer-to-peer file sharing anonymous. The agency alleges the stealthy downloads violate federal law and asked the court to order a permanent halt to them.
According to the complaint filed by the FTC, Odysseus Marketing and its principal, Walter Rines, advertised software they claimed would allow consumers to engage in peer-to-peer file sharing anonymously. With claims like “DOWNLOAD MUSIC WITHOUT FEAR,� and “DON’T LET THE RECORD COMPANIES WIN,�