Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Davos 2012
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Summits
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Issues 2012
Candidates 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Mohamed El-Erian
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Geraldine Fabrikant
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (1)
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
U.S. outrage as Egypt bars Americans from leaving
26 Jan 2012
Romney puts Gingrich on defensive in Florida debate
|
2:42am EST
Gingrich jab at debate moderator deflected
26 Jan 2012
Corruption scandal shakes Vatican as internal letters leaked
26 Jan 2012
Irishman makes "billion-euro home" of shredded notes
25 Jan 2012
Discussed
365
Subculture of Americans prepares for civilization’s collapse
216
Abortion safer than giving birth: study
160
Romney reports tax bill of $6.2 million for 2010-11
Watched
Google at your own risk
Thu, Jan 26 2012
Angelina Jolie fascinated by "bizarre" Republican presidential race
Sun, Jan 22 2012
Bolivian coca growers want new road
Thu, Jan 26 2012
Facebook takes on 'clickjacking' spammers in court
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Reuters Magazine: The Hashtag Revolution
Thu, Jan 26 2012
Rare Google misstep hints at tech landscape shift
Fri, Jan 20 2012
Lawmakers flip on piracy bills protested on Web
Thu, Jan 19 2012
Zynga releases first mobile game since IPO
Thu, Jan 5 2012
Think before you "Like" on Facebook
Fri, Dec 30 2011
Analysis & Opinion
AOL pinned down by girly startup on a shoestring
The mortgage investigations drag on
Related Topics
U.S. »
Tech »
Media »
Facebook »
Credit: Reuters
By Laura L. Myers
SEATTLE |
Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:06pm EST
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Facebook and the state of Washington sued a company on Thursday they accused of a practice called "clickjacking" that fools users of the world's top social network into visiting advertising sites, divulging personal information and spreading the scam to friends.
The scheme, also known as "likejacking" because victims are tricked into using Facebook's "Like" button to perpetuate it, has grossed $1.2 million a month for the Delaware-based firm, Adscend Media, according to the state attorney general's office.
Adscend profits from the scam by collecting money from its advertising clients for every Facebook user unwittingly misdirected to a target ad or subscription service, the plaintiffs said.
Two separate but similar claims filed in federal court by the state and Facebook accuse Adscend of violating federal and state statutes outlawing misleading or deceptive commercial electronic communications and unfair business practices.
The legal action is believed to mark the first time any state government has gone to court in a crackdown against spam spread by Facebook, the world's most widely used social media network, said Paula Selis, senior counsel for the attorney general.
She said schemes such as clickjacking have grown steadily more pervasive, and that millions of Facebook users have probably been exposed to Adscend's spam.
"Security is an arms race," Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, told a news conference at the California-based company's Seattle office to announce the lawsuits. "It's important to stay a step ahead against spammers and scammers."
Attorney General Rob McKenna, a Republican running for governor, said Washington state was taking action because "we've brought other cases like this and, more than any other state, we've developed technological and legal expertise" in the field of cyber fraud.
Representatives of Adscend or two co-owners also named as defendants could not immediately be reached for comment.
PAGES DESIGNED AS BAIT
As described in the lawsuits, the scam works as follows:
Facebook pages designed as "bait" are disseminated to social network users as posts that seemingly originate from friends, offering visitors an opportunity to view salacious or provocative content.
However, that viewing is contingent on completing a series of steps that will supposedly unlock the content but are actually designed to lure Facebook users onto other sites, where they are tricked into giving away personal information or signing up for expensive mobile subscription services.
First the victims are encouraged to click the "Like" button on the Facebook "bait" page, which then alerts their friends to the page's existence, thus helping propagate it. Then they are told they cannot reach the content without filling out a form for an online survey or advertising offer.
In one example cited, the "Like" button is overlayed with a link labeled: "This man took a picture of his face every day for 8 years!" The promised content often does not exist, and the user instead is directed through a series of prompts taking them off Facebook and to a string of ads and subscription offers.
In some cases, a hidden code embedded in an enticing link on the "bait" page activates the "Like" button without the user even clicking it, sending it to friends' news feeds.
Selis said it may seem unlikely that anyone would click on such links, "but unfortunately they do."
While the number of Facebook users actually scammed by clickjacking is not known, Selis said investigators have determined that some 280,000 users visited the locked content pages of Adscend during February 2011 alone.
"So we know there are probably millions of Facebook users" exposed to the deception, she said.
Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the Adscend action was the latest in "our pursuit and support for civil and criminal consequences for spammers or others who attempt to harm Facebook or the people who use our service."
He cited three federal court judgments worth several hundred million dollars each obtained by Facebook against spammers since 2008.
(Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
U.S.
Tech
Media
Facebook
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
Xiggie wrote:
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.