So-Called Scumware, And What You Can Do About It

I wrote the following piece about so-called Scumware some time
ago, when many responsible Internet Marketers were rightfully
expressing their concerns too. Scumware has not gone away, so I
am reprinting it to summarise those concerns and explain what you
can do to try and put a stop to it.

(Note: some of the programs/sites listed below may now have
cleaned up their act, whilst other programs - not listed - may
have taken their place. Do visit at least one of the resources
listed at the end of the piece to learn more about the current
scumware-situation.)

--

TopText, Surf+, Gator... so-called Scumware

Phew! These last few weeks have seen a lot of e-mails about the
topic of so-called 'Scumware' - software that allows sites to
advertise on *your* site without your say-so, and without any
financial benefit to you. Apologies if you've read too much
about this already, but for those who have yet to read about
'Scumware' or want to know more about how to stop it, this piece
is for you.

Basically, if you own or operate a website, chances are many of
your visitors are being "stolen" by your competitors even as
I write this! It is possible RIGHT NOW that when a visitor visits
your site, they can be shown banners, highlighted keywords, or
other forms of paid advertisement, without your knowledge and
without any benefit to you.

How is this possible? Through the use of programs that have
recently come to be known as "scumware".

Programs such as Gator, TopText and Surf+

These programs use proprietary software to track web surfer's
usage patterns AND YOUR site content and serve up ads they have
sold to your competitors that display directly over - in the form
of popups - or even directly ON - in the form of keywords
hyperlinked to the other advertiser's sites - your website.

Here are some quotes I've been reading from other concerned
website owners and e-mail publishers:

* "has the potential to eat up your profits faster than
anything else!"

* "this is a blatant violation of copyright, pure
unadulterated theft, and downright reprehensible
behavior"

* (etc.)

The over-riding message is this:

"Please make sure you read about 'Scumware' and do anything
within your power to help stop it."

I am writing this piece to alert the readers of [my newsletter]
Promote! Promote! Promote!. I have stopped promoting Gator, and
will not promote any site that uses this type of predatory
advertising.

To help you do 'something', here are some resources where you can
learn much more about this predatory advertising, why it's
wrong, and what *you* can do about it:


=> Learn more

http://www.takebacktheweb.com/
http://www.scumware.com
http://www.stopscum.com/

http://dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Business/Allegedly_Unethical_Firms
/Ezula/ (all 1 word)

=> Talk to others

http://GeekVillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12048
http://GeekVillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12175
http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums 415/s.html
http://sitepointforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32094
http://gethighforums.com/Forum10/HTML/001386.html
http://66.33.83.213/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12175
http://slashdot.org/features/01/07/31/2015216.shtml
http://www.revenews.com/archives/00000139.html

=> Prevent and/or cure

http://www.takebacktheweb.com/
http://www.searchking.com/ezulakiller/
http://www.whirlywiryweb.com/removesurfplus.htm
http://www.ahfb2000.com/ezula/ezula.php

A new script that blocks Surf+ and TopText -
http://developerdispatch.com/dispatch/devdis010.html

=> Read the news

http://associateprograms.com/search/newsletter173.shtml
http://www.msnbc.com/news/618966.asp
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6897620.html
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/08-toptext.html
http://www.revenews.com/archives/00000138.html
http://slashdot.org/features/01/07/31/2015216.shtml

"Forget Smart Tags; TopText Is Doing What You Feared"
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/08-toptext.html

=> Sign the petition

http://www.PetitionOnline.com optext/

=> Just do something!

http://www.scumware.com

--

So there you have it. Predatory advertising in all its gory!

If it all seems too much to absorb just visit one of the links
above, and try and do your bit to halt this scourge on the
Internet. Because, until this predatory advertising is stopped
or neutralised, you face the potential of losing your hard-earned
visitors each and every day, with a simple click.