I had an interesting discussion recently which suggested that Spyware / Adware may be rearing its ugly head in the UK again, I know that the official stance is still zero tolerance however I was wondering if any of the networks would like to confirm that they are remain totally clean and are not again being subjected to unethical applications which are stealing the bread (or the cookies) from the mouths of the hard working affiliates.

Zango (formerly ePIPO, 180solutions and Hotbar) is the name that is being bandied about.Wikipedia has them down as Zangocash these days part of the Pinball corporation.
So nutshell I have these questions for the Affiliate Networks and merchants with independent programs:
I’m not looking for a witch hunt, just piece of mind, so help a paranoid old cynic out please.

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10 Responses for "Is the UK still Spyware / Adware free?"
Hi Keith, from Paid On Results stand point.
>Can you categorically confirm you are totally adware / spyware free?
Nope, because Affiliates are paying adware companies to show adverts on their behalf and as they are found they are terminated but they are getting sneaker and sneaker.
100% always spyware free is the plan, and I think that’s the stance of all UK Networks, but the reality is folk are always trying it on.
>Do you work with Zangocash / Zango (or any of its incarnations)?
No
>Has the above named company approached you recently with a view to working with you?
No
1) Similar to Clarke, we’re terminate affiliates if we see any sign of them using adware/spyware but it’s sometimes hard to identify if they are using these methods to drive traffic… typically they come up in our monthly fraud checks if not before though and commissions are removed.
2) No
3) Yes
Cheers
James
Hi Keith,
Our policy is to terminate this kind of activity wherever we find it. We haven’t had any approaches from Zango nor would we work with them.
Thanks for replying Paid On Results, Affiliate Future and Webgains, wouldn’t expect anything less from you guys but its always nice to be reassured
Hi,
As above for Awin. We also have some automated spyware/adware detection tools that are pretty effective at finding such activity across all affiliates so we can attempt to nip as much of it in the bud as possible.
Whilst I think it’s great that all networks take an anti-spyware stance I still think it’s a big issue within Affiliate Marketing.
We strive to be 100% spyware / adware free by employing 24/7 automatic detection techniques and we are one of the few networks to have staff who are 100% dedicated to network quality. The use of adware / spyware by affiliates is against our terms and conditions so anyone applying and being truthful about there intentions is not someone we would work with on buy.at.
Hi Keith,
I don’t think the issue of spyware / adware has ever really gone away. The difference now is that networks / merchants take a hard line on any suspect activity and many networks have better monitoring techniques in place. It still happens, it is still very reactive and it can be hard to spot who uses these softwares before the results are seen but I, as a client, am fairly confident that the networks are on top of this.
Hey Keith,
TD’s policy is the same as all the networks mentioned above. We have a zero tolerance policy and any publishers caught will be removed from the network immediately.
We do not work with Zango / Zangocash.
Cheers,
Andy
If by adware you mean cpv/ppv advertising like zango which apparently went down in past year or so but cpv advertising seems to be growing as a large number of affiliates are using this method having been banned from adwords. I found it commonly used in the USA than UK
Just came across this as I was doing a bit of research. As I understand it, Zango is now part of a floated company called Blinkx that has patented video recognition technology for placing adverts next to videos. It also has getcheep.com which is a transaction hijacking toolbar, although I don’t think its set up through affiliates.
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