Federal courts have ordered several spreaders of spyware and spam to pay large fines and stop operating.

A federal court has ordered a man who was at the center of the nation's first ''spyware'' case to give up $4 million (euro3.18 million) in ill-gotten gains.

Sanford Wallace was accused by the Federal Trade Commission of running an operation that infected computers with software that caused flurries of pop-up ads. It then tried to sell consumers cures called ''Spy Wiper'' and ''Spy Deleter'' for $30 (euro23.82).

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