C2 Media, Ltd. (Lop)
Before going into this topic, I want to state upfront that there is a legitimate business located in New York called C2 Media. They are a printing company and are in no way affiliated with the London based C2 Media, creators of Lop.com. http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=1125 Please do NOT contact www.c2media.com if you have been infected with Lop.com.
C2 Media, located on London, England, likes to bill itself as a "legitimate advertising company". Anyone who has ever been infected with their advertising parasite, Lop, probably refers to them by other names.
They feel that it is well within their rights to offer advertising to the average net-user. By "offer", they mean altering your IE browser through browser hijacks, adding toolbars and buttons, adding files and .dll files on your system, adding registry keys, and making itself at home in the Application Data folder. They sneak themselves onto computer systems by being obscurly bundled into other programs. It is also difficult to remove, requiring the user to perform part of the removal in Safe Mode and also accessing the regedit, something a novice or new user isn't proficiant at.
In articles, their spokesperson, Jason Lucas, compares this sort of infiltration as being no different than watching a television commercial. (http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/spyware/040312lucas.pdf) He claims that people must pay to use the internet in the form of accepting unwanted advertising the same way we "pay" to use television and radio by listening to commercials. He seems to overlook the fact that the majority of people using the internet do pay for it's use....through their ISP services. And that the portion of the population using free ISP's are being served sponsored advertising through the free ISP. I feel that anyone paying $30 to $60 a month for the privilege of using bandwidth should not be required to suffer their unwanted adware, nor should they be allowed to alter the user's personal property, i.e., their computer. Those who use free ISP services are also served with advertising sponsored by the ISP service, which is their agreed upon terms with the service. Why does C2 Media feel these people should "pay" even more by turning over control of their computers to C2 Media?
And so I have taken the time to review some of the mass public's reaction to discovering Lop.com appearing on their systems and why these people don't share C2 Media's opinion of itself as a simple "advertising company".
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/adware.lop.html (when Symantec gives removal instructions for you C2 Media, this should be your first clue that you aren't welcome)
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/lop.html
http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/lop/
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9745185~mode=flat
http://www.acesoft.net/lop.com.htm
http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/l/lop_com.asp
http://www.complaints.com/april2003/complaintoftheday.april16.14.htm
http://www.complaints.com/may2002/complaintoftheday.may6.16.htm
http://www.complaints.com/december2002/complaintoftheday.december24.22.htm
http://simplythebest.net/info/spyware/lop_c2media_spyware.html
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff22687.htm
http://www.gowron.org/lopvirus.html
http://www.lop.reallysucksass.com/takeaction.htm
http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/techtalk-old/posts/topic85002.shtm
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=7487
http://www.pcsympathy.com/article95.html
http://www.unixfool.com/lop-statement.html
http://www.nibbleguru.com/probs/100/244
I seem to come across three types of websites in a search on C2 Media: A. C2 Media tooting it's own horn. B. paid affiliates tooting C2 Media's horn. C. people who hate them. The vote is in C2 Media....people don't like you.
This website will be updated regularly with any new developments. Anyone wishing to contact me for inquiries or to relate their experiences may do so at nomorespyware@yahoo.com.