Zango/Other Spyware Test Results on Paysites
 

OK - first three tests and this is just with zango installed - no other spyware on this machine - will be trying a second run with some others:

Playboy - pops a console for Freshfaces with a ref ID of 167220 (not mine)

TopBucks - changes the aff code on the exit popup from mine to id=25547

Sunnydollars - loading quite a few sportsbook consoles


This is just the first run - we will be running more tests rotating virtual servers and IPs to check for other aff IDs
We are in the process of installing popupblockerutility, funwebprogram and their other programs and smileycentral to run tests with them

oh snap.........

thnx for the latest update. I'm suprised playboy isn't on their "exclusion" list yet..

Wow.............. this promises to be good.

try epiccams.com specifically

is this really a surprise... Zango is doing exactly what it was written to do. But it would be nice to see those affiliate accts terminated.

very interesting...what do nastydollar sites do?

its nearly impssible to get on that list. do they publish the liost? becuase my attorney wrote them and asked all my urls be added and we have not been. its been almost a month since they got the letter

p1mpdogg - couple of minutes and will do :thumbsup

Oh and please hit up some ccbill programs, lets really see if they did what they claimed and stuck to it.

p1mpdogg - using my normal referral link into epiccams - I go in and click on the "join" link and everything is carried forward - when I back key back to my site I get one pop from 1-dream dot com which looks like yours and everything is normal - the pop has your code in it - also when on the join page the reseller code is still correct

Using Zango - click same link - different IP and computer of course - get an AFF pop with a reseller code of P322291 and the hitsid was 0n1194381961n85 if that helps - go to the join page and it keeps my reseller code intact - on backing up I get a chain of 5 exit pages from 1-dream dot com - again everything looks like they are your codes ranging from Guerilla to AFF to APCgall etc

TopBucks - changes the aff code on the exit popup from mine to id=25547



Hi Linkster,

Can you please send me more information on this. We were told and our tests show us not being targetted, however it looks like they are targetting an exit console or creating a new exit console.

Thanks,

~Alli

SunnyDollars.. oh well, they are crooks themselves.. fuck them

when you get to the EpicCash sites...the ref id's should be mine...now don't go telling Trey, because I spent a lot of money with Zango to get those key words.

Good thing....

no they are not. we do not so any business with them at all. thank you for bringing this to my attention though.

I do not do any busienss and have not authorized any of this to take place on any of my sites.

i misread some of your post... anything on our exits is our codes becuase we donot give crredit on exits, thats why we pay higher if you have exits turned on. however you can turn exits off and get a $5 less payout.

so are you saying nothing did popup over our join page with your zango pc?

p1mpdogg - nope no pops over the join page here on epiccams with zango

Allison - I went back and checked - basically it looks like they are replacing the WMs ref id on the exit pops - I did it through the milfseeker site - although now when I go into the same site without zango its changing the codes to that same other ref ID - earlier it carried over my ref ID for your multisite popup with this text and a bunch of banners -
"Step into Reality...with this gaggle of
Adult Reality Sites
that are sure to tickle your fancy!!!"

Then I get three more pops in the exit chain - although my code is still in the top - the codes in the pops are definitely not mine - but then I dont know if you pay WMs for referrals through the exit pops?
THe only other pop I got was the Fling pop but that had your ref id in it

interesting thread... thanks linkster... keep it up.. would like to read more about this

I'm surprised Topbucks is in there, I know they fought pretty hard to get all their domains added to their exclusion list.
WG

being on that list comes with a high pricetag and one that you won't find on the menu :winkwink: each company that buys with them has the option to supress friendly competition from their target URLs (which is now and has been illegal for years but is still accepted hush-hush from most adware companies) and target keyword lists. if you want anything done about removing yourself, and i say this to everyone, you are better off contacting the advertiser directly and requesting that all keys/urls with your site names in them be supressed (include even specific words that would normally bring up your site on search). back in the day you could right click the pop or switched ad and see who the buyer was under properties. most got wise and dont use their name in the campaign tag now. good luck to all

WiredGuy - Im looking now and it looks like Topbucks changes the link codes themselves as Im surfing now with an uninfected machine and sometimes I get my ref code and sometimes I get a different one (rotating) on one of their pops that lists some of their own sites - of course on the other pops I see other link codes since its probably Topbucks own codes on those - and quite honestly Im not sure if they pay WMs for exits or not - I havent checked in years - but it is definitely rotating on one pop - so I cant say it has anything to do with zango although I still need to compare their exit chain link codes to the zango version to make sure they arent losing out

There is definitely an AFF pop over your join page when zango is installed. It's delayed about 10s after you hit the page.

Nothing happening here when i type epiccams.com

thank you for that info

moses - is that on epiccams? I sure dont see it here

fuck zango all the way to hell

Linkster can you check the sites in my signature... most important latex lesbos, nylon lesbos and femdom chamber

Thanks

Yeah, it's epiccams. I tried to edit my post to add that, but it took over 3 minutes just for the gfy to take the post, so my edit window was over before I could click on edit.

that is what i have heard was aff was poping over my join pages

moses - I see it now - it took over 20 seconds to load - but got a transpersonals ad on the browse cams page for Epiccams


For the others who asked about other sites - I will make a separate thread if that ok unless you want it all merged in here?

Wow... looks like Lars is going to have to buy you a lot of bro beers...

BOSS1 - I would need an example affiliate linking code to test it - doesnt matter if its one of your internal(house) ones or not

Ok thanks for the info. It doesn't sound like Zango is targetting TopBucks sites. That sounds like a cookie issue. Some exit console sales are credited to the webmaster and some are used for inhouse testing purposes. We have a no cookie over-write code so cookies within a certain time frame can't be overwritten.

We have been on the Zango issue very early on- for almost 3 years when we first identified how they negatively impact the webmaster, the business owners, and the surfer. I'm glad to see that targetting is not ocurring as we test on a regular basis as well and have not found targetting of our sites.


I DO WANT TO ADD SOMETHING IMPORTANT FOR ALL WEBMASTERS: Zango I believe is just a small problem amongst many other major problems. Zango is a company that we all know about and there are hundreds of other companies out there doing similar or even more invasive things to steal traffic or steal affiliate sales. TopBucks has always been a reputable company and we know that traffic theft on all levels no matter how people may describe it impacts all the legitimate business operators.

If any webmaster finds or identifies any adware, spyware, trojan, etc that manipulates affiliate traffic or targets our network of websites, please contact me personally ASAP. We will hansomly reward any person who identifies such problems.

There will be more news from TopBucks to come regarding these types of issues as targetting our sites or our affiliate traffic will not be tolerated and TopBucks will not sit idly by.

~Alli

Go Linkster go!

Allison - thanks - and the net round of tests will be using some of those other programs - we are basically working our way through the highest percentage of referrers to our sites based on the urls but wanted to get zango out of the way first - and I agree - there are literally hundreds of these types of programs according to our looking at user-agents

Linkster will you find some ccbill codes and please check out some ccbill sites. Really am curious as to Zango claimed to put them on that special list. Also judging by your epic issue, can you sit on a join page for a few?

Good work Linkster. :thumbsup

After Shock Media - I just tested two ccbill sites - one got a pop from unsecuredcreditnow when I backed up from the join page - the other site didnt pop anything - I did note that the two sites were using two different types of signup pages - the url for the signup page that did NOT get a pop said beta in the url wheras the other site went to the regular join page - I will get more details later on more sites - those two just stuck out on one of my larger sites so I tried them :)

Linkster, I would really appreciate it if you check some of the sites in my sig. They are ccbill and I am very curious. Thanks in advance.

Sebastian

Nice job Linkster!

i'm not sure i would qualify it as a "small" problem

zango is one of the top spyware user agents in my logs..

at over 1% of web infection rate i would say they qualify as a "major" problem.

Keep doing that man, thx

Will be doing some in-depth checks of ccbill sites today - as soon as I finish some paysite updates - did find more programs last night and will post results later today - let me know if there are any other specific programs anyone is interested in and Ill try to get Ice or someone to change the thread title so I dont have to post a new thread for each group :thumbsup

http://blogs.csoonline.com/files/complaint.pdf

can anyone see who the attorney was for PC tools?

Here we go again...

Linkster, Im interested in getting Score-Cash checked out. Some of our sites include Scoreland.com, Scorevideos.com, XLGirls.com, 18eighteen.com, 40Somethingmag.com.

Allison could you hit me up on ICQ. Interested on knowing how you got on that list or in contact with these guys to get you off their targets.

p1mpdogg - since thats just the complaint there isnt anything on there regarding representation for the defendant - you would have to go over to one of the law archives to figure out the case # and see the defendants response filing - which would show their lawyers

Ralph - I actually have some of your sites que'd up for today already

You should be able to gleen all kinds of info from the case files here

Here are a few more they tried to sue. Hmm, Grant Media owes them almost a million and agreed to make payments? Interesting timing on that as well. Did they use Zango to fluff traffic stats for the sale?(Don't mind me, just pondering out loud)

Here is a gal suing them--
Phillips vs. Zango Inc

Whoa, this is news to me. Can you fill me in? I've been pushing them for a little while.

awesome website. got what i needed
thanks