After years of turning a blind eye, it seems the adult webmaster community has taken notice of Adware companies that install Malware with its applications. Companies such as Zango, which was created when 180 Solutions and Hotbar merged, along with other adult companies that have installed what they call "toolbars." In actuality, this is nothing more than a half legal way to install a product on a visitors PC and blast them with unwanted, targeted advertisements, hence the malware.

Here is what Zango does. First Zango can target your sponsor sites without them or you knowing about it. They simply force a popup to come over the tours, pushing the close [X] to the right so the window can't be quickly closed, this often comes with 1-3 popup windows, so the visitor never has a chance to reach the advertised site.

The big problem with Zango type products is you can enter their site, bid on other sites names or keywords, and anytime visitor's hits that targeted sponsors site, your cookie will be overwritten with a new cookie that belongs to that webmaster. You lost the sale even though you referred the person, all because they have Zango installed.

The end result is the program owner and more so the webmasters get less sales. What the webmaster world needs to do is wake up! Zango is one of many other companies that do this. Even other Adult Companies still install toolbars and other free applications that include malware, this is done with the purpose and intent to steal traffic from programs and webmasters and re-route it to them.

The malware applications are becoming much more advanced. Most are very difficult to remove even for experienced users. They offer time delay systems that start and shut the program off and even country markers to filter some countries in and out. The software can be shut down during a virus or spyware scan, and rebuild itself, if it gets detected and removed.

I feel webmasters should put direct blame on the "marketed" affiliate programs. These people KNOW exactly what they are buying. The Zango website clearly states they steal your cookies, and the affiliate programs they work with know about it.

Many affiliate programs utilize cookies to track referral traffic and the resulting. Those affiliate programs reward their affiliates for the traffic that results in a sale. Because of cookie technology's limitations (alternatives include session-based tracking, webform submits and others). Zango works directly with administrators of Affiliate Programs to ensure the proper tracking of sales for the program and its affiliates. Zango is in ongoing communication with the Affiliate Programs and their administrators and is committed to supporting clients increasing their online sales while maintaining the affiliate marketing model.

Another large problem with Zango and related products, besides some webmasters having no problems making dirty money, is the rest just do not have a clue that there is a problem. A quick look over some of the top industry boards such as GoFuckYourself, PornCity.net, and JustBlowMe show some webmasters having taken notice while 90% of the other forums and blogs have no mention of it. It's sad to see the mainstream blog and news world cover this problem more than our own industry. It would seem to me that a huge part of the adult webmaster world and even affiliate programs are blind to what is going on.

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I have the pleasure of working with a few large adult companies that have hired professionals to assist them with finding spyware and malware products that target their sites. This very difficult task has shown that mainstream and other adult companies, WILL target friends and any other traffic source for an extra buck.

As an industry we can do something about companies like Zango and other affiliate programs that allow this type of marketing. The FBI'sInternet Crime Complaint Center is a quick and easy way to inform the government on what is really going on. We have already proved with spam that we could not police ourselves; so informing them of this new way to illegally spam seems more like a duty to my webmasters. I say "down with the scum! Giving us honest companies more opportunities to grow."

~ TheDoc

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Post edited by Kristin from Yappo.com
Yappo which is powered by TopBucks has made many public statements against spyware and malware practices. "We don't accept it - won't allow it and it's against our TOS. We continually monitor Malware Companies to ensure our sites aren't being targeted!".




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