Adware Patent

Jupiter analyst Gary Price wonders if NetZero has really been granted a patent for adware: NetZero patents...AdWare?

NetZero filed for the patent in April 2000 and, last month, was granted a patent for High volume targeting of advertisements to user of online service

Disclosed is an ad server and local device that interface for selecting advertisements to be viewed by users of an online service based upon user activity. The local device preferably stores a targeted activity list of activity identifiers and associated advertisements in memory, preferably in cache memory. The local device monitors the activity on the local device and compares the activity to the identifiers in the targeted activity list. If the activity matches one of the identifiers, the local device causes one or more advertisements to be played.