All quite on the spyware front?

[getvisible]

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Just been looking through the list of the uk's top 3000 visited sites (before you ask I'm not making it avaliable)

Zango Games is at 1197 ok it seems quite high, but it get's the same(ish) amount of traffic as our mate Kieron so it's do ok. But if I'm not mistaken, isn't Zango still supported "spyware, adware," or whatever you want to call it?

So shouldn't we still be worried about spyware? And is there any movement in the networks - either forwards or backwards?

Cheers,

Lee

[Retail-Therapy]

Lee, we should definitely be concerned with adware and spyware, you cite zangos chart position at 1197, but, how many people need to visit the site to have the app installed on their computer?

I suspect that for every actual visitor they have, a thousand, maybe ten thousand more have a drive-by installation from other websites, shareware/freeware application installations etc.

One of this forums well-respected members has links all over their sites for downloads which contain zango and a whole bunch of other spy/adware programs, yet that person is very vocal in disapproving spy/adware. (No I won't name and shame)

So, we should be concerned, but worrying? I don't think theres any point, as it seems to me that spy/adware has found its way into these hallowed halls, and will continue to ingratiate itself (by monetary means) into the mainstream.

Tony

[Rich]

You should still be concerned about spyware.

I don't know if your stats are based on the busiest sites based on number of page views or unique visitors, but Zango Games is quite a small site that is only used as one way to install 180 solutions' software, so a large number of users to that site implies a large number of new installations. The site is not generally accessed after the software has been installed.

Having said that the alexia graph for zango.com is concerning. The graph for 180 solutions is similarly high (tv.180solutions.com is the host the client connects to get details of what advert urls to open, I can't be certain if alexa toolbar picks up on all of these requests).

I did do another full scan of 180's ads during the first half of last month, but haven't got round to reporting much of the findings, or even digging that deeply into the data, but here are some highlights
(& lowlights!) - in no particular order.

Firstly, the current zango software has started using encrypted data files to make it harder to do these checks, I managed to bypassed this for these test but I think it could make it difficult to perform future tests. Their servers also seem to be only delivering some adverts to the latest client and I was unable to automate the capture of these details. Finally the new software now links into Firefox! so a user that has moved from IE to Firefox to avoid popups will start getting them again.

Zanox: Just as I finished the tests Zanox announced "that (they) work towards the goal of spyware free network for ALL UK programs." I've pointed out that their link format makes it impossible to tell if one of their links was to a UK program or another region. I sent them details of all the links I found in this batch of test. Its unclear if they plan to remove spyware from regions other than the UK.

Buy.at: Found nothing and I'm pretty confident they are the most active network at monitoring this area, even more than me (maybe they should be posting these reports! )

POR: Found one POR link during browsing, was one that I couldn't get to be returned to my automated checks. As this was the first POR link I'd ever found I reported it straight to them and it was dealt with quickly. This was related to an affiliate that had been reported to other networks previously.

Awin: Found 3 links, 2 from the affiliate mentioned in the POR part and one from an ID that is very close numerically (possibly multiple accounts made at the same time though the whois is different). Previous checks showed a lot more links using these IDs which could be a sign of the problem with not all ads showing up in the automated tests.

Netklix: Found 4 links, all from the affiliate mentioned in POR part.

DGM: Found 6 links from one ID to one merchant. In the previous test this affiliate had been found to be using 180 with AF, CJ, TD & Clickbank but not DGM. This time they only showed against DGM. While some affiliates use 180 without realising they are bad, this shows how some know and just move between networks as they are kicked off. There have been other examples of this including the affiliate mentioned in the POR part. Maybe a need for more sharing between networks.

AF & OMG: Found no links

CJ: Found 293 links, many using CJ's encoded link format. There is at least one affiliate ID that was previously reported to CJ on 10/02/05. Also 911 links pointing to bfast were found. It was CJ's announcement on 02/06/05 of not allowing the use of spyware (though in legalese), which they had originally told me about 3mths prior, that made me decide to run these tests to see how well the network quality team were doing at enforcing these terms. This ID is still active today.

TD: Found 173 links from 2 affiliate IDs. One of these, responsible for 115 of the links, was first reported to TD on 05/11/04 in an email specifically mentioning this one affiliate. It was also reported in an email on 04/03/05 which contained a list of all TD links found via 180 in the tests performed mid Feb and is still active today. That list also included the other ID that was active in this set of tests.

I think thats about all!

Tony: I just read your post before submitting this (has it really taken almost 3hrs!). Are you sure the affiliate you mentioned knows their links help install Zango? Seems odd that a well-respected member would do that.

[Retail-Therapy]

Rich I'm pretty certain that the person in question knows exactly what their links lead to, it would take a complete idiot not to know, and this person is no idiot.

Finally the new software now links into Firefox! so a user that has moved from IE to Firefox to avoid popups will start getting them again.

that is a real shame.

Tony

[Malcolm Cowley]

Networks need to be much more on top of this issue.

Spyware 2 if you like. There are lots and lots of merchants being targetted by their competitors and competitor affiliates.

Other networks have been informed of ceretain affiliates which are still running traffic through them from the same sources which suggests that they wont do anything until the scale of things escalates.

The only people who can escalate it are the affiliates. Vote with your feet like you did once before and see how quickly this issue gets resolved.

Its a shame people have to be pushed into this but as an affiliate if thats what it takes then I dont mind losing a few quid to get this stamped out.

As a network we are trying our very best to make sure we keep on top of this issue but we may not get it right in the future and like POR if anything slips through the net then let us know and it will be dealt with immediately upon investigation unlike some of the companies named above.

Its amazing when we go to see clients and show them whats actually happening on their incumbent networks. Doesnt half make for an easier sale I can tell you.

We even ran a report for a big insurance company recently and found that one channel was canabalising another channels sales internally using a form of adware/spyware. Unreal when you see this in action.

Regards

Mal