Who Supports Spyware?

Check out Ben Edelman's table of investments and investors into spyware companies:

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Company (products)

Investment amount, firm, date

Controversial product characteristics / [Ben's] research / references

180solutions (Zango, n-Case)

$40 million - Spectrum Equity Investors - March 2004

installation through security holes claiming affiliate commissions covering web sites with competitors' sites

Claria / Gator (GAIN)

$58+ million - U.S. Venture Partners, Greylock, Crosslink Capital, Garage Technology Ventures, Rosewood Stone Group, Investor AB, Technology Crossover Ventures

Issues included confusing installations with lengthy, poorly-presented, one-sided licenses, covering web sites with ads for competitors, and making false claims about business practices.

Direct Revenue (OfferOptimizer, many aliases)

USD 20 million - Insight Venture Partners - April 2004 USD 6.7 million - Technology Investment Capital Corp - August 2004

installation through security holes deleting competitors from users' disks covering web sites with competitors' sites Newsweek article: use of many aliases, claiming affiliate commissions advertiser list forthcoming

eXact Advertising (BargainBuddy, BullsEye)

$15 million - Technology Investment Capital Corp - November 2004

installation through security holes claiming affiliate commissions covering web sites with competitors' sites advertiser list forthcoming