Example Packet Log with Silent Cookie-Stuffing
The Effect of 180solutions on Affiliate Commissions and Merchants - Ben Edelman

Index of Annotated Packet Logs (details)

Other Targeted Merchants: Double and Silent Popups

As discussed in Silent Affiliate Code Replacement Without the Use of Popup Windows within The Effect of 180solutions on Affiliate Commissions and Merchants, 180 has implemented a system that can set affiliate tracking codes without showing users any popup windows. These replacement affiliate codes cause 180 to be paid commissions otherwise payable to other affiliates, and cause 180 to be paid commissions even if no commissions would otherwise be paid. For a listing of affected merchants, see merchants targeted with silent affiliate code replacement.

This page shows specific network transmissions that implement 180's silent cookie-stuffing, targeting a request for rei.com made on June 22, 2004. See also a video (WMV format, view in full-screen mode) confirming that no on-screen display took place.

Consistent with the rest of my site, I have omitted my DUID (my unique 180solutions user ID number), and I have omitted 180solutions' affiliate ID number.

 

GET /showme.aspx?keyword=.rei.com+rei.com&did=762&ver=5.9&duid=... &partner_id=183723514&product_id=762&browser_ok=y&rnd=6&basename=zango &tzbias=5&MT=14A7F81A56809D668C16CC01198CB4B1F76369B7 &DMT=14A7F81A56809D668C16CC01198CB4B1F76369B7&bid=0 &SID=QJWREHWT&OS=5.1.2600.2&SLID=1033&ULID=1033&TLOC=1033 &ACP=1252&OCP=437&DB=iexplore.exe&IEV=6.0.2800.1&TPM=200785920 &APM=42049536&TVM=2147352576&AVM=2031063040&FDS=1591721984 &LAD=1601:1:1:0:0:0&WE=5 HTTP/1.1
Accept: image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/msword, application/x-shockwave-flash, */*
Accept-Language: en-us
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Host: tv.180solutions.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
Cookie: register=lrd=6/22/2004 3:14:41 PM; partner=lcd=6/22/2004 3:14:41 PM &pi=183723514&pt=128rhaerupaflaassrkpydcgbqrgdi&ci=762&cn=4& cy=us&rg=2505&ct=38972&dma=506&pc=02239&ac=617&bd=12:00:00 AM&sx=&cd=6/6/2004 2:17:04 PM&md=6/6/2004 3:04:09 PM&dlu=12:00:00 AM&glu=6/6/2004 2:17:04 PM&csi=0&li=0&ei=0&chi=0&hii=0&ck=9468ab7c-fb6b-445a-a66b-2e020ea7cf25 &upbl=False&cv=5.9; guid=9468ab7c-fb6b-445a-a66b-2e020ea7cf25; caps=as=0&lad=6/6/2004 12:19:51 PM &askw=2&ladkw=6/22/2004 3:14:14 PM; speedcheck=ls=6/7/2004 8:30:48 PM

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 03:50:18 GMT
Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
P3P: CP="NON DSP COR ADMi DEVi TAIi PSAi PSDi OUR IND UNI NAV"
X-AspNet-Version: 1.1.4322
Set-Cookie: caps=as=0&lad=6/6/2004 12:19:51 PM&askw=1&ladkw=6/22/2004 8:50:18 PM; domain=.180solutions.com; expires=Thu, 23-Jun-2005 03:50:18 GMT; path=/
Set-Cookie: speedcheck=ls=6/7/2004 8:30:48 PM; domain=.180solutions.com; expires=Thu, 23-Jun-2005 03:50:18 GMT; path=/
Cache-Control: private, no-store
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 1009

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML>
  <HEAD>
   <meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5">
  </HEAD>
  <body>
   <iframe src="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=...&offerid=20594.10000191&type=4&subid=0"></iframe>ncase_ad_id: <input id=ncase_ad_id name=ncase_ad_id value=266410><BR>
ncase_keyword_id: <input id=ncase_keyword_id name=ncase_keyword_id value=172482><BR>
ncase_ad_windowtitle: <input id=ncase_ad_windowtitle name=ncase_ad_windowtitle value="Brought to you by the Zango Search Assistant"><br>
<INPUT ID=kw_exclude TYPE=text style="VISIBILITY: hidden;" VALUE="%3dwsi+empty+keyword+mailbox"><br>
<INPUT ID=ad_shown TYPE=text VALUE="y" style="VISIBILITY: hidden;"><br>

   <SPAN class="957085619-06032003"><FONT face="Arial" color="#ff0000" size="5">Thank you
    for your patience.&nbsp; You will be redirected to your destination site in a
    few seconds.</FONT></SPAN>
  </body>
</HTML>


GET /fs-bin/click?id=...&offerid=20594.10000191&type=4&subid=0 HTTP/1.1
Accept: image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/msword, application/x-shockwave-flash, */*
Referer: http://tv.180solutions.com/showme.aspx?keyword=.rei.com+rei.com&did=762&ver=5.9 &duid=...&partner_id=183723514&product_id=762 &browser_ok=y&rnd=6&basename=zango&tzbias=5 &MT=14A7F81A56809D668C16CC01198CB4B1F76369B7 &DMT=14A7F81A56809D668C16CC01198CB4B1F76369B7&bid=0&SID=QJWREHWT&OS=5.1.2600.2 &SLID=1033&ULID=1033&TLOC=1033&ACP=1252&OCP=437&DB=iexplore.exe &IEV=6.0.2800.1&TPM=200785920&APM=42049536&TVM=2147352576 &AVM=2031063040&FDS=1591721984&LAD=1601:1:1:0:0:0&WE=5
Accept-Language: en-us
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Host: click.linksynergy.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
Cookie: lsn_statp=61%2ANAw%3D%3D; lsn_track=UmFuZG9tSVaZQEIype2T0UaZ5xO3lAR9Ya1JP9plASrsLncloBjRnACzgD9gaYtDFkOdXObrOv5puw5E3PRzvg%3D%3D

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 03:50:27 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.29 (Unix) mod_perl/1.29
Set-Cookie: lsn_session=mQLTS7JtZqU; domain=.linksynergy.com; path=/; expires=Wed, 23-Jun-2004 03:52:27 GMT
Expires: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 03:50:27 GMT
P3p: CP="ALL DSP COR NID DEV ADM CUR OUR BUS LEG NAV"
Location: http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/swat?lsnsig=mQLTS7JtZqU&id=...&offerid=20594.10000191&type=4&subid=0
Connection: close
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1

18d
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>302 Found</TITLE>
</HEAD><BODY>
<H1>Found</H1>
The document has moved <A HREF="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/swat?lsnsig=mQLTS7JtZqU&amp;id=EuNzK5cT07w&amp;offerid=20594.10000191&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0">here</A>.<P>
<HR>
<ADDRESS>Apache/1.3.29 Server at njws0066.private.linksynergy.com Port 80</ADDRESS>
</BODY></HTML>

0