Movieland, also known as Movieland.com, Moviepass.tv and Popcorn.net, was a subscription-based movie download service that has been the subject of thousands of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, the

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

State Attorney General's Office, the

Better Business Bureau Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a private, 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization founded in 1912. BBB's self-described mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust, consisting of 97 independently incorporated local BBB organizations in the Unit ...

, and other agencies by consumers who said they were held hostage by its repeated

pop-up window Pop-up ads or pop-ups are forms of online advertising on the World Wide Web. A pop-up is a graphical user interface (GUI) display area, usually a small window, that suddenly appears ("pops up") in the foreground of the visual interface. The pop-u ...

s and demands for payment, triggered after a free 3-day trial period. Many said they had never even heard of Movieland until they saw their first pop-up. Movieland advertised that the service had "no spyware", and that no personal information would need to be filled out to begin the free trial. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a

complaint In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...

against Movieland and eleven other defendants in August 2006, charging them with having "engaged in a nationwide scheme to use deception and

coercion Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a des ...

to extract payments from consumers." The

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

of the state of

also filed a complaint, charging Movieland and several other defendants with violating that state's Computer Spyware Act and its Consumer Protection Act. The files of the popup were found o
Wayback Machine
in August 2022. Another version of the popup was found o
Wayback Machine
in January 2023, with the original embed page and parameters, but without some files (some missing files are saved in the older link above).

Overview

Movieland advertised its movie download service by using pop-up ads at other sites. The ads offered a three-day free trial, with access to members-only

content Content or contents may refer to: Media * Content (media), information or experience provided to audience or end-users by publishers or media producers ** Content industry, an umbrella term that encompasses companies owning and providing mass ...

including music, news, updated sports scores and

adult movies Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotical ...

. The ads said there were no forms to fill out, and no need to provide a credit card number or an e-mail address, making the trial appear

anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

. The site's homepage stated that it has "No Spyware", is "Virus Free", and "No Extra Charge". The site installed a program, MediaPipe, which was used to access the service.McMillan, Robert.

Early consumer complaints

Movieland.com began operations sometime in the fall of 2005 or earlier. Consumer complaints began soon thereafter. Most consumers claimed they had never signed up for the free trial, never used the service, and never even heard of Movieland until they got their first pop-up demand for payment. Some said they found the software on their computers after downloading a screensaver or other free utility. The company denied that it installed its software by stealthy means. Media coverage as early as January 2006 recounted consumer complaints and mentioned that several

anti-spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their privac ...

companies were buying Google advertisements boasting their product's ability to "Remove Movieland Now". In a report updated February 20, 2008, the

Berkman Center for Internet & Society The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society is a research center at Harvard University that focuses on the study of cyberspace. Founded at Harvard Law School, the center traditionally focused on internet-related legal issues. On May 15, 2008, ...

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

calls Movieland's MediaPipe component "badware" because "it does not fully disclose what it is installing, does not completely remove all components and 'obligations' during the uninstall process, and modifies other software without disclosure." Richard Stiennon of IT-Harvest referred to Movieland as a form of "

Ransomware Ransomware is a type of malware from cryptovirology that threatens to publish the victim's personal data or permanently block access to it unless a ransom is paid off. While some simple ransomware may lock the system without damaging any files, m ...

" due to its behaviour. As of July 2008, the MediaPipe report is still cited by the

Complaints by the FTC

On August 8, 2006, the FTC filed a complaint in United States District Court "to obtain preliminary and permanent

injunctive relief An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...

, rescission of contracts,

restitution The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery, in which a court orders the defendant to ''give up'' their gains to the claimant. It should be contrasted with the law of compensation, the law of loss-based recovery, in which a court ...

disgorgement Disgorgement is defined by ''Black's Law Dictionary'' as "the act of giving up something (such as profits illegally obtained) on demand or by legal compulsion." Overview Disgorgement is a remedy or penalty used in US securities law. For examp ...

and other equitable relief for Defendants'

deceptive Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight ...

and

unfair Unfair may refer to: * Double Taz and Double LeBron James in multiverses '' fair''; unfairness or injustice * ''Unfair'' (drama), Japanese television series * '' Unfair: The Movie'' * Unfair (song), a song by South Korean boy group EXO {{good article Federal Trade Commission Spyware Defunct video on demand services