Fed up with unauthorized pop-up ads that appear when customers log onto the UPS Web site, United Parcel Service has filed an action for an injunction and damages against Gator Corporation, an Internet advertising provider. UPS claims that Gator's ads popped up on customers' computers without their permission as they attempted to track shipments on the UPS Web site, and that those ads included pop-ups for UPS's competitor, Federal Express. Gator claims the ads were legal, that Gator has 22 million active users and 400 advertisers, and that the pop-up ads only appear to subscribers who have signed up for free software in exchange for the ads. Not so, says UPS spokesman Norman Black, "We don't like it when a customer goes to our site to track a package and ends up getting pop-ups for online psychics or dating services." Gator also functions as "spy ware," unbeknownst to most Web surfers, as Gator runs in the background and tracks the sites visited by the surfer. At least 12 media companies have obtained injunctions against Gator's pop-ups by claiming that the unwanted and annoying pop-ups reduce the value of paid, legitimate online advertising.

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