Hi, I have this rather a legal stuff question, if there is a malicious attack add on an (any) webpage, that permanently opens , strikes pop-up windows, inviting you to install some Adobe stuff, which obviously will do pile of who-knows-what, can such an add be legally attacked, but I mean attacked towards the very add, not the webpage that advertises it.

In the US you can basically sue anybody for anything, so sure.

Actually accomplishing that, though -- figuring out who to file the suit against, and then not getting it thrown out, and then actually winning -- is a different, difficult and expensive story.

What are you trying to accomplish here, exactly?

What are you trying to accomplish here, exactly?

How difficult it would be, and in first place, why it is not a "state vs." case, since it is obviously just breaking laws, and I just cannot believe that this bunch of lawyers with official competences are willing to sue only in case of a found body. Thaat add is actualy quite monstrous trap, and for a long time , I am not gonna publish it of course.

How difficult it would be, and in first place, why it is not a "state vs." case, since it is obviously just breaking laws,

Really? What SPECIFIC law is it violating?

For a civil suit, what SPECIFIC damage has been done? The law generally requires actual damage, so you'll need to demonstrate actual harm, not just annoyance. In a class action suit you can show a small amount of harm to a large number of people rather than a large amount of harm to a single individual, but still you are required to show specific, actual damages.

The annoying ads have no specific damage since you willingly accept the cost of ads by using the free sites. The annoyance is payment of a cost, not a damage.

If there is a malicious site, something that does actual measurable damage rather than a simple annoyance, then that's something you could sue over. Most likely the most you could recover is actual damages or something near it, a very large cost for practically nothing in return.

But short of measurable damage or a clear violation of a specific law, there is nothing to sue over. You could pressure law makers to create a law, but you'll need to make a very strong case that doesn't harm established business interests, so good luck there.

If the ad directs you to some BS software that puts either some sort of virus on your computer, it is be against the law if it damages your computer and you can prove it. If it puts some sort of adware or something: probably not. However, if it doesn't install the software that it says it's going to install, it's probably still illegal - false advertising or something.

There should be some "state vs. whoever" thing going on. There may be in some rare cases, but you're unlikely to know about it unless it's a slow news day and the hacker group is high profile.

Even if the ad redirects you to a obviously malicious virus, there isn't much you can do. To start with - you'll likely never be able to track them down. If you can, you'll likely find them in some country outside of the US (or your own country) , so you can't sue them or do anything about it.