Priceline, Travelocity, Cingular settle probe related to adware

Priceline, Travelocity, Cingular settle probe related to adware

Priceline.com Inc., Travelocity.com Inc. and Cingular Wireless LLC are three companies which have decided to settle the probe by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo by paying a fine of $100,000.

The probe was related to how these companies relied upon installing adware on user’s computers to promote products and services.

Cuomo’s office said in a statement: “Advertisers will now be held responsible when their ads end up on consumers’ computers without full notice and content.”

They had filed a lawsuit against these companies in April 2006 claiming that Direct Revenue LLC installed more than 150 million ad-serving programs in consumers’ computers.

The fine includes payments related to penalties and the cost of the investigation. The companies would also be required to deliver ads only through companies that provide full disclosure of their adware programs and any software bundled with it.