Here's a link to Ben Edelman's study (type in your own domain name and see if you've been Gatorized!): http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/edelman/ads/gator/ -Declan --- http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-1008954.html Harvard study wrestles with Gator By Declan McCullagh May 22, 2003, 4:00 AM PT A Harvard University researcher has completed an investigation of the Gator advertising utility, offering a glimpse into the workings of one of the Web's most controversial pop-up networks. Gator is a utility, sometimes derided as "spyware," that monitors a user's Web browsing activity and displays relevant advertisements. Until this week, the service promised advertisers that it could slap promotions onto a computer screen when a reader visited a competitor's Web site. According to the Harvard report, pop-up advertisements for Sun Microsystems' powerful V880 server, boasting "See how Sun beats IBM," are aimed at Gator users who visit IBM.com. In the cutthroat travel business, Orbitz, Travelocity.com, Priceline.com, and Cheap Tickets have purchased pop-ups that Gator users visiting arch rival Expedia will see, the study found. Expedia, in turn, uses Gator to aim its own "bargain fares" ads at all four of its competitors' sites. The report "provides some data as to how much advertising Gator is showing and to whom it is targeted," said author Ben Edelman, who has testified as an expert witness against Gator in at least one legal challenge to its service. "For Web site operators, and to be sure, their legal staff, it's important to know whether Gator is targeting them or not, and if so, how much." [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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