Popcorn.net: The Latest Spin on Spyware

I was flipping though Maximum PC this weekend and caught my first sight of the latest form of spyware to hit the market. The magazine dubbed it "extortionware," and that's an apt description. Here's what it is and how it works.

The site pioneering extortionware is called popcorn.net (which I highly advise you don't visit right now). Popcorn.net looks harmless enough: You install the software from the site and it gives you a free three-day trial to watch movies through its special player (though these appear to be mostly movie trailers, commercials, and a few older movies which are no longer covered by copyright). But if you don't cancel before that three-day trial expires, you start getting billed, $29.99 a month. Refuse to pay and you're hit with a bill for a year's worth of service and, one source says, damage to your credit report. The biggest catch: You can't get rid of the software (which barrages you with pop-ups) or uninstall it unless you pay for the subscription.

Yep, sounds like extortion to me.

Don't feel bad if you got suckered into popcorn.net's loathsome scheme. But getting rid of it isn't going to be fun. This is nasty stuff, with a dozen processes to deal with, and numerous registry entries that have to be removed. Thor Schrock has detailed instructions to remove it... and they run four pages long. This site has a removal application you might try (click the "download popcorn.net removal software" link), though, as someone who's avoided a popcorn.net infection, I haven't tried it personally. Want to get litigious? Check out Manuel H. Miller, who's filing a class-action lawsuit to stop popcorn.net and, hopefully, get you some of your money back.

Good luck!