Russian bot herders got away while adware criminals get record European fine
The bottom line of this story is that distributor of spyware DollarRevenue had to pay a huge fine. Most important is that even individual board members and shareholders were fined as well. Unfortunately, the bot herders got their money and were left alone. Worst, the advertisers and their agencies must be laughing all the way to the bank.
Every person working in finance knows that due to money laundering legislation, people have to check the sources of any cash being deposited at the bank counter by a client. In most countries, things become more difficult for the person depositing the cash beyond a certain amount (e.g., Sfr. 20,000).
In cybercrime - spammers and spyware distributors - things are a bit different. As outlined, by law a bank has to check that cash being deposited is not part of some type of money laundering scheme. In contrast, neither advertisers nor their clients have to make sure that their Internet advertising dollar is not being used by a criminal installing adware or spyware onto unsuspecting sufers’ PCs.
Around 2007-12-18 we are informed that the Dutch regulator OPTA slaps spyware purveyors with €1m fine. And Viviane Redding was quick to tell the world that she approved of this very much:
But if you study the material a bit more closely it is obvious that this ruling is a good start but will not stop the spam and spyware avelanche we are facing on the Internet.
The problem is that advertising agencies (so called intermediaries in the DollarRevenue case) and their customers (i.e. advertisers including such firms as HP in the Dollar Revenue case) are not required to follow proper procedures that are similar to what we expect of financial intermediaries to flush out money launderers.
If we want to stop adware criminals, then we must demand of ad agencies and their clients to make sure that whoever gets their advertising dollar for the Internet:
- must follow proper procedure and act responsible, while
- being legally compliant by following not just the letter but, most importantly, the spirit of the law
Get more info here:
largest ever fine against spammer and spyware distributor in Europe Dec 2007 - NL (Please click on the link, choose option: Login as guest - return and click on this link again to get free access)
As the above detailed outline shows, we have managed to hurt one firm that behaved illegally. Unfortunately, the bot herders got away. As disturbing is that advertisers and their ad agencies will most likely do business again with another firm that does the distributing of spyware for them.
Regulation is great but it has to go beyond the purveyor of spyware. Advertiser and the advertising agencies must act diligently and beyond reproach which apparently was not the case here according to the regulator OPTA.
We applaud OPTA but hope policy makers will change laws to allow regulators to go after advertisers and ad agencies. Without such changes, criminal adware distributors might move away from The Netherlands to open shop next door. In fact, Russia might be one attractive location for spyware distributors.
You can download the OPTA press release from here:
OPTA - NL - FACT SHEET: DECISION TO IMPOSE FINE ON DOLLARREVENUE
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PS
The DollarRevenue distributors have appealed the ruling. We keep you posted about what the NL court will decide regarding this matter.
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adware, AIDS, bot herders, Dutch regulator, largest fine, legislation, money laundering scheme, OPTA, regulation, Russian bot herders, Russian cybercrime, spyware, Viviane Redding
