6 replies to this topic

[TeMerc]

Another chapter, this the latest in a series of amazing articles chronicling just how Zango pushes their software on MySpace.

But this time we have a confirmed, (by Zango)legit email to one of thier affiliates on how to proceed and suggestions on how much to pay and how to link to other Zango sites. Things like moving gifs because according to the email, 'people love that sh*t". And also mentioning adding in a karate guy doing flips, because it turns out that it's 'wayyyy more profitable'

Here is a snippet from the email:

"Zango is fairly new with MySpace sites and it took me some time to see what works and what doesn't."

"Put one of our videos on to your MySpace profiles and all of your friends will see it"

...more profitably, *go to a bunch of your friends* who have popular profiles and pay them (it's up to you so much. One of my partners said 5$..maybe offer to split the money with them?) to put a Zango video into their profile through your site. This will give you hundreds of extra installs a day (this probably works even better than having them on your actual site).

So for all the posturing Zango has been doing you can only imagine how much this is going to twist the Zango PR guys shorts. And I bet he thought he was going to have the weekend off too.

Guess again scum, because if there is one thing we all know is that Paperghost never takes time off. And is always honing his killer moves against adware bad guys.

Full read w\links @ VitalSecurity

[TeMerc]

Warner Bros. To Cut Link With Adware Firm Zango

'Inappropriate Material' Could Reach Children
By Brian Krebs
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, July 28, 2006

Warner Bros. Studios, home to Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo and Harry Potter, said yesterday that it plans to terminate a business relationship with Zango Inc., an adware company that has been offering free games on the Warner Bros. Web site in exchange for permission to install a computer program that could push advertisements and pornography.

Zango is offering free downloads of games on a Warner Bros. Web page called "Fun Stuff" that appears to be for children. But when users click on the game, they're directed to a page that asks for permission to install on the computer a program called Zango Search Assistant. Hidden in the terms of agreement is the disclosure that users may receive adult-oriented ads through it.

A Warner Bros. spokesperson could not say yesterday how soon the Zango link would be removed from the Warner Brothers site, adding that the companies were in a contractual agreement and that lawyers would have to be involved.

Washinton Post Online

[TeMerc]

Zango Replies:

The page of the Warner Bros.’ Web site that has been much discussed recently is a contest and sweepstakes page, distinct from the “Kids” link on the company’s homepage. U.S. law governs sweepstakes rules (at least for residents of the U.S.) and those rules generally limit sweepstakes eligibility to persons at least 18 years of age. Additionally, and even in the advertisement at issue, Zango clearly provides notice that a user must be 18 or older to download our software. Specifically, on the notice and consent screen shown in the ad, it stated: “By clicking below, I confirm I am 18 or older and I agree to the End User License Agreement.” This is a best-practices measure Zango takes that is above and beyond what some other popular downloadable software applications require. We hope the Zango and Web communities recognize our commitment to best practices and our responsiveness to legitimate concerns about our software, marketing and advertising practices, and our business model generally.

As a growing company with more than 200 hard-working employees and 200,000 new opt-in users daily, Zango values all of its partnerships and we will continue to work hard to ensure that we meet and exceed the expectations of our users, advertisers, content providers, and publishers.

Zango Blog

[TeMerc]

Lack of action is not the same thing as policing

Zango spokesman Corey Magnus acknowledged that "as the e-mail clearly indicates, we had at one point looked into opportunities" on MySpace. But Magnus again said it was Zango's policy not to target the social site. (Informationweek)

...hm, perhaps someone should've told your employee that.

"This practice was immediately halted last month upon learning of MySpace's 'Non-commercial user by members' term of use shortly thereafter,"

"Upon learning"?!

Come on guys, I expect more! At least something convincing! You guys make it sound like discovering Myspace didn't allow you to pimp your wares commercially was some kind of epic quest and yet, somehow, your highly paid legal team somehow missed the fact that when you sign up to Myspace, the first thing you see is.... (Terms of Service screen shot)

Full Read w\screen shots @ VitalSecurity.org

[TeMerc]

Warner Bros., Zango & Kiddie Porn: The Real Facts

How much impact did this have on Zango pulling out of their Warner Brothers deal?

Digg.com is a well known source of breaking news stories, and often those stories spring into life well before many journalists are aware that the tale has come, gone and been again due to its rapid spread and rather large reach. A story was recently submitted to Digg with a rather spectacular title:

"Warner Bros website distributing Zango Spyware + Kiddy porn browser".

As someone who follows Zango extremely closely, I nearly fell off the chair when I saw this hit the frontpage of Digg. Could something have gone so amazingly wrong with Zango's distribution chain that someone had gamed the system (once again) and started serving up illegal pornography from the Warner Brothers site courtesy of Zango?

The answer is no. The story submitted to Digg takes the user to a Blog entry dated Thursday, 11th May 2006. Contained within are a number of factual errors, where various Zango related stories have meshed into one, messy whole - however, when the story was re-submitted to Digg last weekend (after being submitted for the first time a few months back and getting nowhere), the submitter added the rather inflammatory title into the mix and people went crazy voting for the thing. End result, a factually incorrect story slamming onto the frontpage of Digg and causing major, major ripples in the Adware space into the bargain.

Greynet Blog

[TeMerc]

Zango Affiliate Ignores T.O.S From MySpace AND Zango

In this interview the man behind all these Zango-MySpace profiles tells all about the big money he is making. $60,000.00 per month. You read that right, $60,000.

He openly states that most of his visitors are between the ages of 13 and 18. Which would preclude any of them from consenting to install the Zango software. And these kids are visiting a number of his sites. A total of eight currently, generating somewhere in the neighborhood of 70,000 hits per day

It's of no wonder the guy is getting rich eh? Cause we all know how many kids read EULAs. I won't even get into actually understanding them

You can read more about this enterprising young man at PG's Vital Security

[TeMerc]

Well it would seem the gentleman (loosely used) who PG has recently outed as doing business while ignoring not one but two TOS agreements has decided to post directly to PGs blog.

Surely a mistake as he wasn't aware that unlike himself and the rear clowns at Zango, PG has quite a useful noggin....with quite a good working brain inside of it too.

So sad, it's almost unfair, kind of like pitting Bruce Lee against Hop Sing, from Bonanza.

Unfair maybe, but it also makes for one hell of a show!!

Read about it over at Vital Security

And be sure to check out the comments for a killer video.