For Display Advertisers and Display Networks

In work for display advertisers and display networks, I catch and report the following problems:

• Advertisements loaded invisibly, including in invisible IFRAMEs, nested IFRAMEs, invisible CSS layers, and similar. (Examples: Sony's Crackle receiving invisible traffic, Mytoursinfo creating dozens of invisible IFRAMEs, each with 3+ advertisements)
• Advertisements loaded in popups, popunders, and other windows users did not request.
• Advertisements loaded in spyware/adware popups and popunders. (Example: Vonage advertising through full-screen popups covering competitors' sites, various video sites buying spyware/adware popup traffic.)
• Advertisements loaded in "injectors" that insert ads into publishers' sites without publishers' approval and without payment to publishers. (Example: Vonage advertising through Fullcontext injector.)
• Automatic/rapid reload of advertisements. (Example: Inqwire reloading advertisements every nine seconds.)
• Publishers presenting multiple ads stacked on top of each other, such that even "above the fold" ads are not actually visible to users. (Example: Global-store covering some advertisements with other advertisements.)
• Advertisements in typosquatting and domain parking domains.

For Affiliate Advertisers and Affiliate Networks

In work for affiliate advertisers and affiliate networks, I catch and report the following problems:

• Spyware and adware invoking affiliate links, claiming commission on merchants' organic/type-in traffic. (Examples: Six rogue affiliates overcharging VistaPrint, ten rogue affiliates overcharging Hydra Media advertisers, rogue Dell affiliate claiming commission on Dell's organic traffic, Zango/180solutions using multiple visible and invisible methods to claim commission from affiliate merchants.)
• Spyware and adware invoking affiliate links, covering merchants' competitors' sites. (Example: Rogue Dell affiliate covering competing PC makers' sites with adware popups, rogue Gateway affiliate presenting popunder for Gateway when users browse the Dell site.)
• Typosquatting domains invoking affiliate links, claiming commission on typographic errors of merchants' domain names.
• Web pages loading affiliate links invisibly, without an affirmative end-user click on an affiliate link ("cookie-stuffing"). (30+ examples)
• Web pages loading affiliate links in popups and popunders, without an affirmative end-user click on an affiliate link.
• Banner advertisements loading affiliate links invisibly, without an end-user click on an affiliate link. (Example: Allebrands banner invisibly loads three affiliate links.)
• Email messages promoting affiliate links in violation of merchants' rules.
• Adware, "loyalty programs," and similar software automatically invoking affiliate links when users request merchants' sites.
• Adware, "loyalty programs," and similar software presenting affiliate links, and covering a portion of merchants' sites with such links, while users browse merchants' sites.

Methods

I catch infractions using multiple "crawler" PCs which operate 24 hours per day, continuously checking for improper advertising placements. I supplement these automatic observations with manual testing in locations I have refined over more than a decade.

Each of my reports includes a packet log presenting the specific methods and identifiers (ad tags, affiliate IDs, etc.) associated with the infraction. Where an incident includes notable on-screen appearances (e.g. a popup), I typically include a screen-capture video showing occurrences as they appear to users. Each report includes a customized explanatory memorandum.

Please contact me to learn more about my reports.

Last Updated: January 14, 2012 - Sign up for notification of major updates and related work.