Advertising on the web - the next step?

It all started with an attractive banner ad on a site advertising a product called "Gator".  Never fill out another form again, promised the ad. I was intrigued - all of us who frequent the web are constantly annoyed by the endless requests for passwords and other information.  The Gator software, I learned upon visiting the site, is a free download.  It promises to be able to automatically fill out most forms you would encounter on the web.  That's nice but what's the catch, I asked myself.  Since they were giving the software away, where was the company making its money?  

I contacted Gator feedback and asked this question but the person who answered me, merely quoted the evasive text one can find on the site.  After several fruitless exchanges of emails in which all my questions were being ignored, I wrote to them and said if they didn't address my issues and concerns, I would assume the worst in the article I was planning to write for my website.

The next thing which arrived was a friendly email from the president of the corporation.  And at first, he tried to evade my questions as the customer representative had done. Finally, he admitted that the way they were planning to make money was to sell information about the customer to prospective advertisers.  With a new twist. Marketing customers of Gator software would be able to send you ads anytime you were on the web or filling out a form.

Most companies allow an 'opt-out' clause and I thought Gator did also when I read the website information.  However, a more careful reading revealed that the opt-out was only for email offers (not for the banner ads).

The text at the end of a long verbose customer agreement reads:
 

Choice/Opt-Out of Services. To the extent that
Services are sent by email, you may elect to opt-out of
the Services as follows:

Send email to remove@gator.com.
 

Customers would, wrote the president, have to accept their agreement or else the software would not be installed.  And that might mean, if the Gator company is successful in its efforts, an endless barrage of ads coming to your computer while you are surfing!

Also, Gator who will sell your name, address and email address to prospective advertisers, may guarantee that you won't get any email from Gator (if you see the opt out clause at the bottom of the user agreement - when was the last time you had the time to carefully read one of those?). But where is the guarantee that someone else won't use your email address to spam you?  No guarantees!

Gator provides a 'scripting service', it tells its customers, which allows advertisers to not have to access the Gator server in order to send an ad.

As Microsoft showed us through a bug, the technology exists wherein a website script can talk to your computer through a DLL made for that purpose.

Gator insists however, that whereas they will, from time to time, collect information from your computer, they will never voluntarily give this to other vendors.  The information collected, they state which can, by the way, include credit card numbers, will be used to target each person who runs the Gator software as to what ads would be most likely to sell them something.

Gator also uses the software it installs in your computer, to track your shopping habits and surfing habits and these are kept in a database which is accessible to their marketing clients.

Are we beginning to see that this software is not really free?  The Gator software runs all the time that your computer is on (is memory resident running as a 'tray application').  By running this software you are opening the door to your personal information.  Even if it only went to Gator Software, do you really want your personal information to go anywhere outside of your home?

From the PC Week article, we read:
 

Until recently, DoubleClick's policy was to not correlate
personal information with its 100,000 million cookies,
which are scattered worldwide. But the new database will
rely on the cookies, which the company places on Net users'
computers to record surfing habits and display pertinent
advertising. Net users aren't informed when they are given
a DoubleClick cookie unless their browser is preset to do
so, but they can "opt out" through the company's Web site.

The more than 11,500 sites that belong to DoubleClick's
network could feed into the new database, which will
correlate with the personal information in Abacus' existing
database of more than 2 billion consumer catalog
transactions. The rollout was first reported by USA Today.

In Sept 2001, Gator Software was being sued for the nature of their ads.  Click here for the press release.

Getting rid of Gator software on your computer
 

From Windows 

1. Click the START button 
2. Select SETTINGS 
3. Select CONTROL PANEL 

4. When the Control Panel window opens
   double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon. 

5. When the Add/Remove Programs Properties 
   window opens locate Gator 
   in the list of installed programs. 

6. Click on it one time and then 
   click on the Add/Remove button. 

   ------------------------------

     
OfferCompanion
   Now repeat steps 1 - 6 above to remove 
   OfferCompanion.

Be very selective about where you shop with your credit card. If you use the Internet Explorer 6.0 it will tell you if you have hit a 'secure' site.

If someone is giving you free software to download on your computer, be very suspicious!  Research it first and make sure it's not spyware. A quick search of Google or other sources will tell you a lot.

Run Zonealarm  ( www.zonealarm.com  )  This is a very nice freeware program which works as a firewall on your computer.  It also will stop any spyware from 'calling home'.

Run Norton Antivirus.  This wonderful program updates automatically every day or when needed.  It protects your computer from viruses.  A must have for all computers!  http://symantec.com  

A good rule to follow on the Internet is if in doubt, Don't download any software!

Remember, There is "nothing for nothing" in this world!  Everything has its cost so find out what the cost of something is, before you download it.
 

from: http://www.spychecker.com

Gator
Type:	Adware
Danger Level:	2 May profile users and no privacy policies in place. May make use of "drive-by installation". Removal is possible by end user.
Official Description:	Gator is a software product that can automatically fill in passwords and other form-elements on Web pages. But its main purpose is to load an advertising spyware module called OfferCompanion, which displays pop-up ads when visiting some Web sites. Gator boasts that since it's software is always running, it can spam users with "Special Offers" and other ads anywhere they go (even competitors' sites) with remarkable targeting capabilities, since it can spy on what sites the user is visiting.
Properties:	Stays resident in background Stealth: hides itself from user Show advertisments Makes changes to browser settings Connects to the internet by itself