Those guys ARE guilty of extortion, and computer hijacking. Unless they can show their target audience is restricted to the viable marketplace, they are spammers by another name.
That is the crux of this argument.... pop ups do not distinguish between a computer user in their home territory (targeted marketing) and one thosuands miles away where it IS an annoyance (mass spam).
I take great pains to prevent foreigners getting my personal data, and do not deal with any company which shares information with them. So why would I give a toss about what some crappy Cali company is selling? Even if the product did interest me, I would buy British and support my home economy and the jobs here.
Those flashy pop-up ads that annoy millions of internet users each day are getting a legal test, thanks to a pair of 20-year-old college students who are challenging the US government's effort to regulate the advertisements.
The Federal Trade Commission accuses the students' small California company of committing "high-tech extortion" by using a feature inside Windows to generate pop-up ads as frequently as every 10 minutes.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/15/1071336853605.html
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Donna
Ads & Pop-ups Blockers

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