CN) - Millions of people's Internet searches are routinely monitored, intercepted and misdirected by Internet service providers that direct searchers to counterfeit Web pages, laced with ads, using technology provided by Paxfire, according to a federal class action in Manhattan.
Paxfire, based in Sterling, Va., "works with ISPs throughout the United States," and boasts that it "'generate(s) millions of dollars a month in new advertising revenue for our partners by enabling them to participate in the booming $20 billion a year search advertising market," according to the complaint.
Sued with Paxfire is RCN Corp., one of many Internet service providers (ISPs) that work with Paxfire.
"This case arises from defendants' intentional and knowing interception of data intended for Yahoo!, Bing or Google (the 'Search Engines') via use of hardware and/or software provided by defendant Paxfire, as well as the monitoring, manipulation, aggregation, and/or marketing of the data. This interception was done secretly, without users' consent or knowledge, in violation of federal and state laws, and in breach of RCN's agreements with its customer," the complaint states.

The rest of the article can be found at http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/08/08....

I think I got phone-interviewed by these folks or a competitor back in 2005 or so, it was very disheartening and got me started thinking about GTFO of NYC.. It sounded scamtastic and the interviewer was trying to sell me on the gig, and I was just not buying, though I had been out of work for a couple months by that time :p