IDG News reports: The company targeted by the FTC, San Diego-based D Squared Solutions, used [Windows] Messenger Service to flash ads touting its pop-up blocking software, which it sold for $25 to $30, according to the FTC's complaint. Because D Squared created a problem specifically so that it could sell a solution to the problem, its business model boiled down to "'I'll beat you and I'll stop beating you if you pay,'" said FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Howard Beales during a press conference on Thursday. "We call that extortion, and it's not any different in the high-tech world," Beales said.