Forum Moderators: skibum
"...scumware problem. Sooner or later the URL with your associates ID will be sent from an infected computer and scumware will step in and replace your associates ID with their own."
I was alarmed to read this as I had no idea this type of piracy and theft existed (silly me!). Has this problem been around a long time? How do I protect myself from this happening to the links on my sites?
Thanks for you help.
Another common term for scumware is parasites.
Parasitic affiliates can overwrite your links in different ways. The most typical is by offering a shopper toolbar or rebate type of toolbar. A customer clicks YOUR link, you should get paid. If the customer has downloaded the xyz cashsavings toolbar - it will overwrite YOUR link and get credit for YOUR sale.
If you partner with merchants who refuse to partner with parasites you can limit your risk of lost earnings. There is also an &afsrc=1 code you can add to the end of affiliate links which is supposed to help prevent certain parasites from overwriting links.
The only way a merchant is parasite-free is if they REFUSE to partner with companies that use these unethical marketing methods. Although it's hard for merchants to police sometimes, because new parasites launch sites and sometimes it takes awhile before you can figure out what they are doing. It takes a very diligent and affiliate-centered manager to insure a program stays clean. Some merchants don't care and partner with parasites for the money. But there are some honest programs that are only interested in working with and supporting our regular, honest affiliates, but it takes a lot of effort and commitmment for us to be parasite-free and stay that way. Some programs either don't care, don't understand or don't make the time to stay parasite-free. I think it's sad and unfair, but that's the way it is.
If you want to learn more you can go to Parasiteware. They have a forum full of info and some merchants who are parasite-free post there.
Hope this helps.
Linda
In practice, afaik, there's very little you can do as it is the visitor's browser that is infected and the distorted rendering takes place there. There are jscripts that sniff for common adware and you can give them an alert box or redirect them.
Is there any way to scan my links and see if they have been altered, or, are they altered permanently or temporarily? Will alterations show up in my coding or is the link only corrupted when interacting with the infected browser?
CJ gives you the option of embedding your tracking code in the link. Should I refrain from doing this?
