Jamster Sued for Misleading Advertising

A California resident has sued ringtone company Jamster over what he claims are misleading advertising practices that lure younger users into paying for text messages by advertising it as a "free ringtone." Charles Ford filed the lawsuit in a San Diego court, saying he was charged $1.99 plus normal carrier SMS fees.

Jamster is owned by VeriSign, a company that specializes in commerce applications and security. In recent weeks, ads have appeared more frequently in AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger, causing some users to complain about the ads' obtrusiveness. "I don't know what they're thinking, I'd never buy anything from such an annoying company," one user named Loren recently wrote in his Web log.