Anti-Spyware Law Snags Anti-Spyware Vendor 138
Country Lawyer writes "Washington state's anti-spyware law has just resulted in a $1 million victory for the state, the first successful prosecution under the new law. The weird thing? They sued an anti-spyware vendor." From the article: "Washington State went after the company after 1,145 state residents purchased the software and the complaints began rolling in. Secure Computer president Paul Burke will now pay $200,000 in penalties, make $75,000 worth of restitution to Washington residents, and pay another $725,000 to cover the state's attorneys' fees. The irony of an anti-spyware law being used against an anti-spyware vendor was not commented upon."
BS (Score:5, Insightful)
that's just insane!
change to 'a corrupt company anti-spyware vendor' (Score:5, Insightful)
So, oddly enough, it seems the law worked. Just calling yourself an 'anti-spyware vendor' is no protection from being a spyware company.
No. It was spyware (Score:5, Insightful)
I can fix that for you... (Score:5, Insightful)
But did it really work? (Score:4, Insightful)
But how much in profits did they make?
If they made $2 million in profits, then the law didn't work at all.
Re:But did it really work? (Score:1, Insightful)
Secure Computer is actually based in New York, and has gone out of business since the lawsuit was filed.
I think it worked well enough.
That doesn't mean the owners didn't take all the remaining money and are laughing all the way to the bank and enjoying their retirement. Closing it down would be a logical thing for them to do under the circumstances, since the company would now be more likely to have its assets exposed to lawsuits from other states.
how do they justify $750,000 worth of "work?" (Score:0, Insightful)
please type the word in this image: Incest
Why is slashdot making me type incest?
Re:But did it really work? (Score:2, Insightful)
My sympathy for them is near zero... (Score:3, Insightful)
Spammer or company spamming = all the same (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:State Attorney's Fees?!? (Score:3, Insightful)
The money to pay those attorneys' salary (and other expenses incurred in the litigation) come out of taxpayer funded accounts. The award of attorneys' fees takes money from the wrongdoer and puts it back in those accounts, saving the taxpayers the expenses incurred in the litigation and allowing them (through their elected representatives) to use that money for other purposes.
How do you justify a rate cap? (Score:5, Insightful)
What you say is equivalent to some PHB saying that no programmer or system designer should ever earn more than $50 per hour.
In fact, some should earn much less, and some much more. Hourly rates are really just a shorthand in the capitalist system for how quickly you generate value.
I've got considerable experience in software and corp management, and so often had to deal with lawyers, mostly on IP and contract issues. As I worked with them, I was intrigued to find out how much the work resembled software development. In both arenas, one needs to evaluate the scope of the project, anticipate the opportunities, obstacles, and pitfalls, then design a structure that will handle all these cases. Once a overall plan and structure is selected, then the detailed modules or sections are crafted using custom code or language where necessary, and reusing pre-tested code or language where possible. SW Developers use the languages chosen for the project, and Lawyers use the English language and Terms of Art. Both professions have barely competent people at the bottom and utterly brialliant people at the top. Both have utter scumbags who should be shot on sight (spammers, spyware, or scammers), and others whose wisdom is a national treasure. Both professions have trivial problems handled mostly by cut-and-paste, and incredibly complex problems.
When given an interesting problem in their domain, the lower ones will take almost forever to come up with a bad answer, and the top ones will give a great answer almost off the top of their heads. This is what makes the good ones worth FAR more than the average, and the average ones worth more than amaterus on the street.