A Revolution is the Solution
It seems they are complaining about losing affiliate commissions since some new version of Zango was released. Zango's blog denies they mess with affiliate cookies, but also says "Zango works directly with administrators of Affiliate Programs to ensure the proper tracking of sales for the program and its affiliates." What the heck does that mean?
Last year I had Zango tell me in a phone call that they didn't mess with affiliate cookies as well, but I saw several ads that did including one that swiped the commission on a Verizon Wireless sale. Here's a quick movie showing them pop up a second window *during* the sale to set the cookie:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/news/da.../
verizon180.wmv
Dave, you win the cookie 
Thanks for the feedback Dave, but I am interested to know more details about how this can happen.
Ah so Zango has reared its Ugly head again has it Blah that thing is a pain ....
Jim, here's how it works. Someone goes to Zango and buys a keyword and/or URL to generate an ad. When an infested user goes to a site or page with the keywords, Zango generates a popup window with the "ad" in it. However, the ad is actually a redirect to a URL with a parameter indicating this is a referral from an affiliate--the affiliate that bought the ad from Zango! It overwrites any other affiliate tracking code that the site was using.
Look at that video I posted. I am in the middle of purchasing cell phone service at a site, just a few clicks away from entering my credit card number and completing the transaction. What possible reason would there be to open a *duplicate* window to the same site? When I look at the network trace, I can see the ad stuff its own affiliate code. That will steal a commission earned by a legitimate affiliate, or it will make the phone company pay a commision when none was earned. Either way someone is wronged and Zango makes money.
There are two reasons why these sites could be seeing a drop in revenue. One is that users are clicking on the Zango popup ad *instead* of the ad on the site where they're browsing. The other is that they click through on the site's ad, which sets the site's affiliate code, but the Zango ad shows up shortly thereafter and sets the ad's affiliate code, swiping the commission. The latter is what you see in the video.
In that article linked by Chris' update to the post, Zango claims this was some harmless mistake by Adult Friend Finder. Zango is not naive when it comes to their own technology, they know their popup ad windows can redirect users and clobber referral codes. The money AFF is saving by not paying these webmasters is now being paid to Zango and making that AFF Zango ad campaign look like a good investment. So why is this bad for Zango?
All of these techniques have been recorded and documented several times by multiple investigators, including Ben Edelman.
http://www.benedelman.org/cookie...cookiestuffing/
Dave, you're on a cookie roll
"So why is this bad for Zango?"
It's dishonest and it's stealing, which is not nice anyway you look at it. But then, that's never stopped Zango before, so why should this be any different...
/rolling eyes
Didn't Zango Deny along time ago that they didn't have anything to do with porn sites or some such nonsense??
Since when does anyone believe what Zango has to say anyway? I know I don't and will not trust their word.
Confusing as this may seem, it actually all makes sense once you understand the plan, its execution, and how its perpetrators profit. In short: Just as I described in my summer 2004 piece and again in September 2005, 180 and its advertisers are engaged in a scheme that substantially harms the honest, rule-following affiliates of targeted merchants.
The basic practice: 1) Get 180's advertising software onto users' PCs. 2) Wait for users to visit affiliate merchants. 3) When they do, pop up windows of those merchants' sites, as reached through affiliate links. Whose affiliate links? Either 180's own links, or links of 180's advertisers.
Either way: The net effects are just as set out in my summer 2004 article: 1) The merchant pays out affiliate commissions on (what should have been) its organic traffic -- costing the merchant money. 2) The merchant credits 180 and its advertisers with commissions that should have gone to other, rule-following affiliates *who actually referred the users to the merchants at issue*.
Contrary to Zango's blog, this is not about cookies. It's about commission-stealing -- about commission-stealing for which 180's software performs a crucial enabling role, but to which 180 has chosen to turn a blind eye.
Of course not every targeted merchant understands the problem, and neither does every targeted affiliate. There's plenty of confusion, and 180's blog post only muddies the water further. But as I reread the threads and complaints, the core of what folks are reporting is *accurate*. 180 and its advertisers are doing what they're accused of. I know because I've seen it personally, and I've documented it on my web site in a series of packet logs, screenshots, and even videos.
References:
My first and main article about 180's commission-stealing systems
Example showing Apple targeted by 180 (many more specific examples linked from here, each with packet log proof)
September 2005 article with additional examples of commission-stealing, including revenue diagrams and additional discussion
The reaction and response from the adult industry to this has been surprising to me. All of this seemed to be new news to many in adult. I assumed the adult industry was more educated on the adware issues considering how entrenched adware is witihn adult from both a distribution and ad display perspective. I seriously flashed back to mainstream affiliate marketing forum hoopula when I first reported on 180Solution's being used as a third platform for affiliates to automatically invoke their tracking links. And that was back in Dec 2003. Of course at that time 180Solutions was very much acting as an affiliate themselves with the major mainstream affiliate networks. I had 180Solutions own affiliate IDs well documented.
Zango's response to all of this is typical Zango PR spin playing the semantic word game. They love the semantics game. Zango's software doesn't touch the cookies in the strictest of technical interpretations. What does change the affiliate tracking cookies? The network or in-house affiliate tracking platform. It's normal programming for affiliate tracking. Zango is used as the platform by their advertisers to exploit normal affiliate referral tracking. Could Zango stop, to a large degree, this type of exploitation? Yep sure they could. Do they? Nope. They get their pennies per pop and shift all responsibility to their advertisers (even covered in the Zango/Advertiser TOS).
Then they come out with spin about how they don't go near affiliate tracking cookies being the angels that they are. And then there's how Zango severed ties with all the major mainsream affiliate networks last year. That was well publized. So Zango probably feels pretty comfortable coming out publicly saying hey we aren't the ones that hold the account for that affiliate ID that was used as the ad URL through our platform! Zango seemed pretty quick to sell out AdultFriendFinder too (Zango Advertisers should take note of that!) stating it was AFF themselves (not one of their affs) responsible for the AFF affiliate links being run through Zango software. That's a really really really not good thing for a sponsor (merchant equivalent in mainstream) to be doing in affiliateland.
But here's the thing. It *could* have been Zango themselves. That's the point. Whenever you have the affiliate tracking URL being used as the Ad Display URL through Zango (or any adware) knowing *who* actually is behind that account becomes more difficult. I spend much more time researching and investigating that one than I do capturing all the affiliate links that come through Zango (which is not an insignificant amount). Has Zango gotten out of the biz of being an affiliate themselves 100%? Hard to say. Especially if they don't promote the affiliate links anywhere except through Zango software. I suppose we are supposed to take Zango's word for it that they no longer are joined with any Merchant/Sponsor through an in-house program or any CPA Networks as an affiliate themselves.
But Zango certainly does profit from affiliate tracking cookies being set inappropriately, overwritten, manipulated or whatever you want to call it. Is Zango not charging their advertisers for all the pop-ups delivered by their software which automatically invoke an affiliate tracking URL???? I think not. And I've seen no substantial decrease in the amount of automatically invoked affiliate tracking URL's coming through Zango's software over the years. Zango's software keeps me quite busy reporting such incidents to merchants and networks.
The fact that their response email on all the hoopla went out to ZangoCash affiliates (some obviously in the adult industry since that's where it was posted) amused me greatly. 
I wonder exactly how much Zango's PR team gets paid??
2 very Important words in the posts i have read the first is Zango the Second is Cash,
Zango's sole reason to Exist is the Money its getting and the only way to stop Zango is to somehow stop the Cash flow, All the so called innocent Servers who host Zango
are making money Because Zango makes money .....
I'm laughing pretty hard right now PG you are media whore. Slash dotted AGAIN! Thats twice in as many weeks.
Keep it up!
I think there is a crucial technicality here that Zango is trying to exploit: They don't rewrite cookies (as Dave mentioned in the first comment), nor do they steal commissions by directly inserting their affiliate codes. What they do instead is create the enabling platform for THEIR ADVERTISERS to rewrite cookies and change affiliate codes. It's very slick.
Another thing- Zango claims that their installs are not spyware because no user-behavior information is directly transmitted off the user's computer. Here too, they are exploiting a technicality. All they have done is install the keyword-match database on the user's computer. So if a user browses to, say, "match.com", it'll fire a match in the local Zango database, and then the local software will query the Zango server for an ad to serve. Secondary user-behavior information IS transmitted off the user's computer. It IS spyware. Again it's a slick exploitation of a technicality.
Ray is it me or do you Admire those scumbags?? maybe its just my brain
I'd like to admire them right upside their heads.
180/Zango = sack of expurgation.
scumbags?? why such names? everyone should do whatever they want to...
I think, that everyone deserves a right to speak openly. So if they want to use street language, that is only their problem, not our Igor!
I'm a webmaster, but I don't know much about spyware. I only know that my commissions as an AFF (and others) affiliate are decreasing unless I increase my traficc for 10 (or even more times) in 3 years...
I'm wondering how to avoid all those zangos or 180's or whatever. Is there any way to protect my website from those stealers?
Commenting by HaloScan
