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Ding Dong, DirectRevenue Is Dead
from the apparently-it's-tough-to-make-money-being-legit dept
DirectRevenue was considered one of the worst adware/spyware firms out there for many years. The company was famous for changing names every time people started to figure out how sleazy the company's marketing techniques were, and then repeatedly claiming it had cleaned up its practice of sneaky installs when the reality was that it kept doing the same thing. Eventually, the company was sued and paid a $1.5 million fine -- significantly less than the $28 million in profits the firm's founders apparently had made (and the $80 million the company had brought in over the years). Either way, now that the lawsuits appear to be done, and the fact that it's pretty difficult to make any money in that business without surreptitious installs, the company is shutting down. I'm sure the founders who walked away with all that money aren't too upset by it, however.
Reader Comments
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burn them at the stakes! I spent 3 hours removing spyware from a clients laptop today.
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Mike, can we start calling you Pud?
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They will be back
DirectResponse will be back. Not the same company, but the same people. It's not just the money that motivates people like this. The thrill of the kill is a high like any other addiction.
These types can't just take the money and run, they are continually thinking "out of the box" to create that next great scam.
As the article stated above, a fine does nothing. Unless prison is involved for the principles, they will be back.
I worked in the past for many of these types of companies and we were always moving to a new location, changing the business name, running new advertisements, changing the phone numbers, etc.
Kevin Trudaeu is another example. The FTC rules he misleads customers with his advertising yet they only give him a fine and and he comes right back.
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Re: They will be back
wow, somehow throwing Kevin Trudaeu's name into an article comment on DirectRevenue is great. Someone a little bitter towards old Kevin?
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Max is right, of course; they WILL be back
I've maintained for many years that there is no such thing as
an ex-spammer; neither is there, apparently, any such thing as
an ex-spyware vendor. (Of course, sometimes they're the same
people, cf Spamford.)
And why should they stop, anyway? The worst that will happen
to them is a mere slap on the wrist, a pitifully inadequate fine
extracted years later (if at all). With millions to be made, and
inconsequential risk, they have every reason to continue.
Which is why the only reasonable response on our part is to
blacklist them (their domains, their networks, etc.) forever....
regardless of how many times they apologize, promise to
reform, etc.
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