ClickZ: EFF Seeks Reversal of WhenU Ruling

Internet libertarian group the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a friend of the court brief in an attempt to overturn a recent WhenU ruling that made impossible certain forms of competitive advertising.

In several legal cases involving targeted pop-up advertising companies like WhenU and Claria, courts have held that the user controls the Internet experience, and if they choose to sport a WhenU application to provide themselves pop-up ads, that should be their business. But the case in question went against that trend, holding that publishers of sites control the user experience, and that spawning pop-ups during that experience can violate rights of the publisher and its advertisers.

An EFF attorney liked it to stifling competitive advertising: "If I'm walking to my neighborhood drugstore to purchase contact lenses and on the way I see a pharmacy with lenses at half the price, I should be able to stop by and take a look at the competition before making my purchase."