When you hear about M&A transactions, you generally get the whole “synergies” argument along with it. Synergy is something we could all probably do without in the adware business, but we are going to have to hear about it anyway.

Now if 180Solutions could just get that whole “we’ve changed” thing straight.

Adware company 180solutions has once again been beaten on over its product, and again it seems they are positioning to push the problem on their affiliates.

The problem stems from the adware they distribute - it is supposed to be an approve-before-install thing, but the claim is that the software is still easily hacked to circumvent the process (meaning make it a stealth install).

180solutions claims it is a “bug,” and that spyware researcher Ben Edelman should have notified them before going public. As if 180solutions deserves that level of respect. After publically pointing the finger at affiliates and trying to position themselves as the good guys, I think the tolerance threshhold is just about broken by now.

When someone simply walks from a big lawsuit, you know they either don’t have a case, or they don’t wan’t “something” to get disclosed in court. No telling which one it is here, but 180Solutions, who can’t seem to tell it straight, has now walked from their lawsuit against ZoneLabs.

Adware maker 180Solutions continues to garner attention. Now a technology watchdog group is asking the FTC to investigate their business practices, something that has been done time and time again.

180solutions said it shares CDT’s “vision of protecting the rights and privacy of consumers on the Internet” and looks forward to continuing a dialogue that already has led to “voluntarily improvements to address every reasonable concern that the CDT has made us aware of.”

Of course they want to continue dialogue. Dialogue is what their lawyers are telling them to continue. Dialogue is a synonym for delay - what lawyers get paid for. And continuing to spew out spyware is what 180Solutions gets paid for - making delays a very convenient proposition. So much for being genuine.

Its either development of conscience or the first step in avoiding a lawsuit. Either way, adware firm 180solutions is now notifying unsuspecting “customers” on how to remove its software from their systems.

The company is pointing the finger at “rogue distributors” (meaning their affiliates) which get the software installed via whatever sneaky means possible. They are “hoping” to stop those effort, although I am not sure what means an adware company could have to get folks to willingly submit to an install.

Good for 180solutions, if in fact it is a genuine effort. Now lets see how fast they die.