Lycos Europe was a pan-European

Pan-European

Pan-European can refer to:*Pan-European identity*International Paneuropean Union, a European unification group*Honda ST series motorcycles, sold as the Pan-European in the UK and Europe...

 network of websites, offering services including communication tools, online communities, web search, e-commerce, web hosting, homepage

Homepage

A home page or homepage has various related meanings to do with web sites:* It most often refers to the initial or main web page of a web site, sometimes called the front page ....

 building and Internet access

Internet access

Many technologies and service plans for Internet access allow customers to connect to the Internet.Consumer use first became popular through dial-up connections in the 20th century....

. It was an independent corporation, sharing no corporate structure with Lycos, Inc. (USA)

Lycos

Lycos, Inc. is a search engine and web portal established in 1994. Lycos also encompasses a network of email, webhosting, social networking, and entertainment websites.-Corporate history:...

 other than the licensed use of their name in Europe, but Lycos Europe was formed as a joint-venture between Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann AG is a multinational media corporation founded in 1835, based in Gütersloh, Germany. The company operates in 63 countries and employs 102,983 workers , which makes it the most international media corporation in the world. In 2008 the company reported a €16.118 billion consolidated...

 and Telefonica

Telefónica

Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...

, who owned Lycos Inc. through Terra Lycos. On 26 November 2008, Lycos Europe announced that it was to shut down and sell its remaining assets.

The Winding up of Lycos Europe

In November 2008, Lycos Europe announced that shareholders had called for its liquidation. Over the following months, it sold as many of its assets as possible and liquidated. Sold assets included the sale of the Danish portal Jubii

Jubii

Jubii is a webportal based in Copenhagen. Jubii provides a search engine and other services, including e-mail.Jubii was originally created in the summer 1995 by Jakob Faarvang later incorporated by the Cybernet founders Kasper Larsen, Henrik Sorensen, Martin Thorborg and Andreas Jurgensen...

, the Lycos Chat - worldsbiggestchat (which at the time was both the Lycos & Yahoo Chat in Europe) was transferred to the new operator Noesis Systems Ltd, on March 9, 2009 and later rebranded as the Noesis Chat, Love@Lycos was sold to a Swedish company. Lycos Europe sold further businesses: the news search Paperball was taken over by Paperball GmbH, Munich. The search engine Fireball now belongs to Ambrosia AG, Zug (Switzerland). Trademark and domains of the French Email-Service Caramail were taken over by United Internet

United Internet

United Internet AG is a German Internet services company. With 2.91 million DSL customer contracts, it is a leading ISP in Germany. It is headquartered in Montabaur, Rhineland-Palatinate...

 AG, Montabaur. Conversis hosting GmbH continues the free hosting service MultiMania. Since liquidation, Lycos Inc withdrew the right for Lycos Europe to use their name and therefore, Lycos Europe are still partially trading under the name Jubii Europe.

Make Love Not Spam

In November 2004, Lycos Europe introduced a Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 and Mac OS

Mac OS

Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...

 screensaver

Screensaver

A screensaver is a type of computer program initially designed to prevent phosphor burn-in on CRT and plasma computer monitors by blanking the screen or filling it with moving images or patterns when the computer is not in use...

 program called Make Love Not Spam. It was introduced as both marketing for the then-new Lycos email service Spray Mail, and as a way for users to fight spam

Spam (electronic)

Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...

 in a collective manner.

The program worked using users' computers to perform a DDOS attack on the web servers of known spammers. The computers worked in the same way as a botnet

Botnet

A botnet is a collection of compromised computers connected to the Internet. Termed "bots," they are generally used for malicious purposes. When a computer becomes compromised, it becomes a part of a botnet...

except the users were aware of the software and were able to decide if they wished to be involved in the scheme.

On the December 21, 2004 Lycos Europe stopped distributing the program whilst simultaneously 'turning off' the programs on computers that had downloaded it. The decision was made under heavy criticism from internet and security experts. It is also believed Lycos were subject to large scale counterattacks believed to be from spammers in retaliation. The distribution website was replaced with the words "Stay Tuned".