While a bit of humiliation sounds like a good idea, you have to wonder if anything short of the stocks would do any good with the bastards who install adware (or if you really want to get their attention, the pillory).

WASHINGTON—Companies could find themselves put up for public humiliation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission if they continue to advertise through insidious ad-serving software.

Such a move might help in the battle against adware, FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said Thursday at an event here hosted by the Anti-Spyware Coalition. Adware is software that displays pop-up ads on PCs, often after Internet searches.

“I think that could have a beneficial effect,” Leibowitz said in an interview. “In this context, maybe shaming a company on how they are spending money might inure to the benefit of consumer’s privacy.”

Of course, some companies wouldn’t like this idea, because it holds them accountable for the actions of their agents (the most common excuse from companies that are using adware is that “they didn’t know”).  This would be a good incentive for companies to make sure their agents are playing by the rules.