Are Affiliates Stealing From The Cookie Jar?
Fionn Hyndman, Asia-Pacific head of DMG and a rival to Commission Monster, says his company and affiliates have lost up to $1 million in the past 18 months – dozens of online merchants including lastminute.com.au, webflix.com.au and rosesonly .com.au are known to have had their cookie trails deliberately manipulated by rogue affiliates which receive the commissions instead of those that have legitimately directed users to a website.
“We’ve provided a large briefing document to the police,” says Hyndman, whose company represents 4000 net merchants and affiliates. “I certainly wouldn’t say it’s directly to do with Commission Monster at all. I guess it comes down to the level of security on your network as to whether you allow this activity to continue.”
Much of the dubious activity relies on millions of computers worldwide remaining infected with Trojan software called “adware”, which serves up seemingly legitimate advertising after users download “free” screensavers, games, emoticons and sign up for various news and entertainment services. Once the Trojan software is active on a computer it “contextually” tracks the content a user is viewing and serves “pop-up” advertising which overrides any other content. Adware also allows online operators to manipulate the cookies of others with their own and then claim the commissions.
Some of Australia’s biggest-spending advertisers are also appearing on “adware” networks as part of aggressively priced online performance-based ad deals.
The Federal Trade Commission alleged that one of the world’s biggest adware companies, Zango, had “secretly installed” its Trojan ad software on computers 70 million times, used deceptive methods to download adware, and obstructed users from removing it. There are an estimated 20 million computers worldwide with Zango software and the surge in online fraud in Australia over the past 18 months has been linked to programs like Zango, Vomba, Limewire and others which allow unscrupulous internet operators to manipulate transactions.
To do it, however, requires these operators to be part of affiliate networks which aggregate and pay thousands of small website publishers to deliver audiences and buyers for advertiser and online merchants.
The strategic director of Viva9, which owns the Commission Monster network, Peter Bojanac would not elaborate on the affiliate agreements his company has terminated but says in Australia, unlike the US, there is no legislation outlawing adware. But “where we see this irregularity, we act on it”.
BCL’s Gayle Dallaston says it is convenient for the bigger internet groups to blame rogue affiliates when it is “a small part of the story”. Dubious activity is more widespread, she says.
“To a corporate advertiser and most people in the online advertising industry, it is easy to simply bundle adware with other online advertising and not ask how it works.”
Paul McIntyre is a writer for The Sydney Morning Herald
Compliments of The Sydney Morning Herald
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Tags: australia, bluefreeway, commission-monster, computer-crime-unit, FTC, internet-advertising-fraud, pay-for-performance, sydney-morning-herald and zangoArticle Sponsor
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