Avira Takes Freemium.Com To Court

MUNICH, Germany (October 29, 2015)

Avira, the world renowned antivirus and anti-malware tech giant, is taking Freemium.com to court for allegedly “…confusing users into installing unwanted programs that can compromise users’ privacy or weaken their computer’s security.”

In a move widely being reported as the first of its kind, Avira CEO, Travis Witteveen said in a statement that it was the right time to take the anti-malware fight straight to the publishers of adware directly.

 

 

The move by Avira is the latest in a series of actions the antivirus giant has taken in recent months. As well as this new legal assault Avira have also forged relationships with other anti-malware companies, such as Lavasoft.

Freemium.com stands accused of knowingly abusing and violating “consumers legal right to privacy and [also] using invalid contracts.”

The core thrust of Avira’s argument centres on Freemium.com’s wrapper, or software installation tool.

Avira have classed it as a ‘PUA,’ or Potentially Unwanted Application. Freemium’s PUA wrapper, it has been alleged, uses “social engineering tricks to make the user install other potentially unwanted applications, “and does so without the user being aware.”

Witteveen referred to Freemium’s software as hiding ‘crapware’ citing this example: “We’ve documented where a user wanting to download a single app could end up with four additional programs, two browser extensions, and a desktop link to a gaming site.”

Avira has long been at the forefront in identifying PUA’s. They think it is up to the anti-malware industry to stop the unfair business practices, which are  allegedly being carried out by websites such as Freemium.com.

As part of Avira’s case against Freemium, the company also alleges that Freemium.com’s user agreements veer from the unenforceable, to the right for Freemium to give virtually unlimited rights to use and sell users detail with impunity.

German Law

The fact that Avira have launched the case in Germany should come as little surprise to tech readers. Germany is famously is a global leader in privacy legislation for individuals, and any court order given against Freemium will force to it either clean up its act, or change the way it operates in other EU countries.

The Problem with Potentially Unwanted Applications

PUA’s are a real issue for consumers worldwide. Avira has analyzed more than 225 million PUA warnings in the last 7 months alone. More than 63 million warnings were for software either identical or very closely related the Freemium.com software wrapper.

“This lawsuit is just the latest step,” Mr Witteveen concluded.  “We will continue to work at many levels to stop the flood of nuisance applications.”

At the time of publishing, Freemium.com had not issued a statement of their own in response to the allegations.

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US Senate Passes Controversial CISA “Surveillance Bill.”

The day before the EU Parliament chose not to enshrine Net Neutrality into European legislation, the US Senate struck their own blow to internet freedom by voting through the controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA, for short.

That the vote has passed the Senate is even more surprising when the vast array of opposition from tech companies and activists is taken into account. Even Apple, who seldom, if ever, stick their head above the metaphorical parapet, came out punching in a statement to the Washington Post before the vote.

“The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don’t believe security should come at the expense of their privacy.”

In league with Apple, were other industry heavyweights such as Google, and Twitter, who used the medium of a tweet to stake out their position on the matter:

“Security+privacy are both priorities for us and therefore we can’t support #CISA as written.”

Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower also weighed in on the decision as well calling the CISA vote:

“the zombie #CISA surveillance bill.”

And as we reported here the other day, when even the government agency, the Department of Homeland Security,  responsible for administering the practical sides of the CISA bill when it becomes law, didn’t think it was a good idea, the question has been asked why such a controversial bill would even make it to the Senate floor in the first place.

But that said, not everyone is against the CISA bill. IBM came out in favor of the bill earlier in the year claiming CISA would help defend against cyber espionage and hackers.

One of the main issues by CISA opponents is whether the DHS can be trusted themselves to look after the data taken from companies compelled to hand over information. Even with the bill’s proponent to highlight the fact that all personally identifiable information should be stripped from the data, before being handed over, but CISA’s detractors claim that individuals could still be identified.

Senator Wyden, who passionately denounced the bill on the floor of the Senate, before the vote, has tabled an amendment calling for a more thorough set of rules for anonymizing people before any data is passed on or shared.

 

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Go Ahead, Jailbreak Your Car

In the US, matters of digital copyright legislation are overseen by the Library of Congress. And since the signing of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) way back in 1998 that covers these matters, not much has changed despite massive shifts in technology and consumer tech use since then.

Now, the LOC has finally granted some exemptions to the regulations surrounding consumer and after-market use of software and hardware. In a campaign that has taken the Electronic Frontier Foundation literally years, consumers are now free from prosecution if they unlock their own mobile devices, software and games that meet certain criteria, and more.

One of the bigger wins in this instance is the allowance to tinker with the software that powers modern cars. This was a hotly contested issue for some time as automakers didn’t want mechanics or consumers seeing what was really under the hood when it came to their proprietary software. Perhaps more than the lessening of restrictions on devices and games, this single regulation change stands to have the broadest impact on both consumer safety and environmental protection. For the first time, the EFF can soundly claim that fiascoes like the Volkswagen software scandal could potentially be prevented, because independent inspectors will no longer be barred from rooting out the code.

Some of the lesser contested changes include allowing consumers to jailbreak their own phones, something that has been in the works for some time. Advocates have long argued that barring the public from taking their out-of-contract smartphones to a different carrier strips them of consumer choice, but this new exemption goes even further towards allowing consumers to use any app store and content provider they choose. Gamers will appreciate the exemption that allows them to legally jailbreak software that has been shuttered by the developer, which is especially important for games that have lost their online-playability at the developers’ hands.

 

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