Okie, cheeky title. But the below story is true... 
Ted Kenyon doesn't like being pursued for money by his computer.
Retired and living in the west country, he prefers using his PC to
download MP3 files. But whenever he turned it on recently, he was
confronted by a large popup window demanding payment. He closed it
- only to see it instantly appear again.
While advertising popups often plague net users, Kenyon's
experience seemed worryingly different. He saw that the window was
from a company in Leeds called Micro Bill
Systems asking for £19.99, with the explanation that his
computer had been used to sign up to a website. After suffering the
annoying problem for some time, he emailed the Guardian for
help.
Kenyon is always careful about protecting his PC. He was using
fully updated Windows XP Professional along with Norton Internet Security
2007, Spybot Search & Destroy, AVG anti-spyware and
Sophos
anti-rootkit. He'd seen popups before but this one stayed
longer each day, hindering his computer use. "The popup starts
about 30 seconds after the PC is turned on and lasts for about four
minutes before the window can be closed. While the bill is
displayed, you cannot minimize it or open any other window in front
of it, as it always hogs the top window slot," he says.
Locked out
The Guardian soon found Katie Singleton, who runs her own web
business, with the same problem. One day she noticed a window on
her PC - headed "MBS direct billing" - demanding money.
"They were charging £19.99 for something called Sexpassport, which
I had never heard of and certainly never used. The popup started
appearing intermittently and could be clicked out of, but after a
few weeks it started to appear more frequently and would then lock
me out of the system for up to two minutes," says Singleton. Kenyon
and Singleton insist that they never signed up to a website; both
fought to regain control of their PCs.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Singleton bought some
anti-spyware software from Pareto Logic to do the job. Also struggling, Kenyon
eventually followed advice in a user forum and deleted the unwanted
files manually.
Other people have been reporting the same thing - an unexpected
bill that increasingly disrupts PC use. The website involved is
sexxxpassport, operated by an Australian company using billing
software provided by Micro Bill Systems. The site offers a
three-day free trial for anonymous access, following which charges
are made - there's a long list of terms and conditions too.
Simon Briskman, a partner in the technology law group at Field Fisher Waterhouse
LLP, worries about the effects such problems have on consumer
confidence in the internet. "I think it's very clever," he says.
"We haven't seen something like this before and it looks like
somebody has thought very carefully through the issues of producing
the terms. But all the same, nearly all the victims are going to be
consumers and consumer contracts have to be fair - I don't think
these terms are fair."
According to the terms, unless the bill is paid, the software will
disrupt your computer use for longer each day. There are up to four
daily periods of 10 minutes when the window demanding payment is
locked and cannot be minimized. Restarting the computer offers no
relief and may result in even more disruption.
Briskman also reckons that, if the billing software is installed
without consent, it may breach the Computer Misuse Act 1990. But
leaving aside the embarrassing suggestion of telling the police
you've been involuntarily signed-up to a pornographic website,
Briskman offers another solution: "I'm extremely sympathetic with
people suffering from this because it's difficult to do anything
other than pay these people off. More effectively, complain to the
OFT [Office of Fair Trading]."
As the director of malware research at computer security company
Prevx, Jacques
Erasmus has spent days investigating the software involved. Erasmus
started hacking in his early teens, a self-taught skill that led to
a challenging IT career. Prevx provides solutions to protect PCs
above and beyond the ordinary security software that Kenyon
used.
Erasmus signed up a test PC to see how the billing software works.
After user permission was given, two mutually protected files were
installed in a system directory and the registry modified. The
software is then hard for non-technical users to remove. "Once a
user's free period has expired, the application installed on the
machine will start popping up relentless messages and fullscreen
popups that cannot be closed instructing the user to pay their
bill," says Erasmus. "These activities are both ruthless and on the
borderline of ransomware applications."
So how did Kenyon and Singleton get it? Erasmus has searched hard
for an "exploit" where the billing software might be dropped
silently onto PCs visiting malicious websites or distributed
through other methods such as a botnet. "There is no evidence of it
being installed by a dropper of any kind," says Erasmus. "The best
way to remove this is to use Prevx1, which will scan your machine
to check if you are infected and cure the infection if it is
infected." Prevx1 also prevents the software installing in the
first place.
Ashley Bateup, the managing director of Micro Bill Systems in
Leeds, rebuts any suggestions of silent installations. He says his
company has developed a new internet billing system which is used
by its only UK customer, sexxxpassport, and claims 100,000
users.
Software removal
"The most common situation giving rise to these complaints is where
a member of the household downloads the software without actually
reading the terms and conditions or warning, and once they realize
they have contracted for a service they refuse to admit their use
to the computer owner, who then assumes their PC has been infected
in some way," says Bateup. "Our customer service team's experience
is that people seem to move into denial with their spouses or
partners when pornography use is at question."
If another member of the household is responsible, then the browser
history may show this; the company claims to have comprehensive
access logs too. Bateup says that one woman who rang to complain
was shocked to discover her husband had visited the porn site many
times despite his denials. However, Kenyon and Singleton
categorically deny that they or anyone else in their households
visited the website. So what about software removal for cases like
theirs?
"If the software was easily removable few people would pay for the
service they had already consumed," says Bateup. "The software
operates a reminder procedure to encourage people to settle their
accounts. If the consumer settles their account and cancels their
subscription, the software can be uninstalled simply."
As to the terms and conditions being lawful and fair, Bateup adds
that he contacted the OFT - as well as Trading Standards - last
October to inform them of the company's business intentions. Asked
about this, the OFT said it does not normally comment on individual
cases - which does not resolve whether it thinks MBS's tactics are
indeed fair and lawful. The mystery remains, though. Someone must
be mistaken. But who?
Sources:
The Guardian
Sophos take on Micro Bill Systems
Those interested in Sexpassport, just Google it up, first result is
your answer. However, whatever that happens is none of my
business.
Whether or not you can sue this bloody company if you kena it, I'm
not so sure. Singapore's legal systems have always been very
contradictory. Good luck.
