'Spyware' company and NY State reach out of court deal

By Steve Malone

Posted on 16 Jun 2005 at 10:53

Internet market research company Intermix says it has reached an out of court settlement with the State of New York over a lawsuit that alleged that it had unlawfully delivered spyware onto resident's machines without their knowledge or agreement.

In April, the Internet Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General sued Intermix for alleged delivery of spyware under the guise of free software downloads, such as e-cards and screensavers, from its sites including FlowGo.com, GameRival.com, CasesLadder.com and MadBlast.com.

Intermix has promised to pay $7.5 million in costs to New York and has promised to cease any activity, including its adware, redirect and toolbar programs, which could be construed as delivering spyware. In return the Attorney General has dropped the charges. Intermix is at pains to point out that it had already discontinued the disputed activities and admitted no wrongdoing in making the settlement.

'We are pleased to announce an agreement in principle that should allow for an amicable resolution of this matter,' said Richard Rosenblatt, CEO of Intermix. 'Our mandate was to remove this obstacle to the Company's continued upward trend and to place this legacy business and related issues behind us.'