bluelook - 7:35 pm on Jan 3, 2004 (gmt 0)

>once an advertiser and publisher are in contact with each other, what's to stop them negotiating >independently from BannerBoxes and cutting out the middleman commission?

Many advertisers only trust that middleman. But itīs easier to trust on Google, than on BannerBoxes... but even so, maybe itīs easier to trust on BannerBoxes than on johndoe.com , who can fake clicks, and no fraud system will detect it, because heīs the one running it.
Most independent sites have this problem. They have to proove that they are an honest business. That faking results would only ruin their business on the long run.

Best Regards,

Nuno