Brad’s Sketchpad

This week, the FTC settled a dispute with parasitic adware firm Direct Revenue, whose software, surreptitiously installed, bedeviled so many computers a few years ago. The agreement requires the company to pay a $1.5 million fine and get explicit permission before downloading software onto someone’s PC, something it blatantly failed to do in its first few years of existence.

Commissioner John Leibowitz filed a dissent and makes a persuasive argument that the fine is not heavy enough, given the pain and frustration the company caused millions of Internet users.

A few years ago — before the class action lawsuit, the legal assault by Eliot Spitzer, and the action by the FTC — I investigated the secretive Direct Revenue for a piece that ran on Newsweek’s Web site. Somewhere in my files, I have CEO Joshua Abrams’ angry letter disputing the story. If I find it I’ll post it. In light of recent conclusions about the company’s nefarious behavior, I’m sure the letter now appears hilariously disingenuous.

Last night we saw the San Francisco premier of the excellent “V for Vendetta”, the best adaptation yet of a graphic novel by one of my favorite authors, Alan Moore. A few years ago, Jen and I had the honor of sitting down with Uncle Alan in London for an interview. I’ve reposted parts of that conversation in the career archive.