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In light of the comments made by member mooper (forum nick name) at the ihelpyou forums and the other moopers of the world, we do not want to lose sight of the real issue of whether or not ThiefWare should be allowed to spread its tentacles. Why are laws passed? Why do laws exist?

They are put into force when someone or something is wrong, someone or something is hurting people, or is infringing on the rights of others. Some people lack a sense of moral judgement or do not care that their actions may hurt others and would like to just say “anything goes” or say “as long as it serves ME”. Site owners believe Surf+, eZula, Gator, FlySwat, and similar ad companies lack that moral judgement.

Today, there are no laws known that apply specifically to ThiefWare ads stating that the methods used are illegal. It's a matter of technicalities to the moopers of the world. If there isn't a law in place, they would like to take advantage of the loop holes in the system. Just because the loop holes exist doesn't make ThiefWare ads ethical NOR does it mean that we should defend companies that exploit loop holes when we believe they are wrong.

It is very clear to us who is in the wrong. How would a store react if another store set up advertising right inside their own store. They would promptly take down the ads and call the police and press charges of trespassing. We believe that is what is happening to our sites. These forms of ads trespass our sites because they are being used when our pages are displayed. There is a direct connection between these ads and our pages.

New laws need to address ThiefWare type ads. These ad companies that would like to keep those ad practices legal are going to have to answer for their immoral behavior and flagrant disregard for our Web property. We should have the right to control what types of ads get placed in connection to our sites' pages and get compensated for showing those ads if we decide they are acceptable. If we don't want ads displayed in connection with our site pages, then we need the option of being able to opt-in meaning if we do not opt-in no ads are displayed.

We site owners should be the ones to benefit from our own hard work, not some other third party who acts as a parasite of our hard work. It is wrong to hijack our pages for their own benefit or put up ads placed strategically to display competing ads that are generated contextually when our sites are in view.