What is easier than agreeing to a legal settlement and promise that you will abandon illegal software distribution practices? Saying that you parted with your bad ways a long time ago, while you really continue your deceitful practices.

Adware researchers Ben Edelman (right) and Eric Howes today in a blog posting provided a detailed look at how Zango pop-up ads failed to properly identify themselves. Or how Zango would fail to get clear consent from the end user when the application gets installed.

21 Nov 2006

That is really bad because Zango earlier this month agreed to a (proposed) settlement with the FTC. In addition to paying a $3m fine, the company agreed to start properly disclosing the nature of the application to end users as well as identify its pop-up ads.

The company at the time claimed to welcome the FTC settlement and even boasted that it had been in compliance for at least the past 10 months. But Edelman and Howes clearly demonstrated that Zango's word is as worthless as its adware software.

technorati tags: zango, adware, 180solutions