Most recent edit on 2008-06-17 19:10:29 by RconneR [Clarified why afffiliates aren't necessarily spammers]

Additions:
The term "affiliate program" is morally neutral, and does not automatically equate to spamming or other unethical practices. If the affiliate takes the simple precautions to avoid sending e-mail in bulk to people who did not solicit it, then he is not spamming. In fact, many large and legitimate businesses use affiliate programs to great advantage (such as amazon.com, to name a famous example). Affiliate mailings become affiliate spam, however, in cases like the following:
The phenomenon of affiliate spamming amply illustrates the diffuse and decentralized nature of the spam problem in general, and forces us to abandon the thinking that spam is a "one-person" or "one-company" problem, as it may have been in the days of "chickenboners" (one-man low-rent spam operations that were once very common). It is now usually a mistake to assume that the operator of a spam website had any direct responsibility for the sending of spam mail (or, conversely, that the sender of the mail was directly associated with the website), although of course they are all complicit in unethical or criminal activity.

Deletions:
The term "affiliate program" is morally neutral, and does not automatically equate to spamming or other unethical practices; many large and legitimate businesses use the affiliate model to great advantage (amazon.com, to name a famous example). Affiliate mailings become affiliate spam, however, in cases like the following:
Affiliate spamming demonstrates the diffuse and decentralized nature of the spam problem in general, and forces us to abandon the thinking that spam is a "one-person" or "one-company" problem, as it may have been in the days of "chickenboners" (one-man low-rent spam operations that were once very common). It is now usually a mistake to assume that the operator of a spam website had any direct responsibility for the sending of spam mail (or, conversely, that the sender of the mail was directly associated with the website), although of course they are all complicit in unethical or criminal activity.

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Edited on 2008-02-20 17:59:00 by RconneR [Fixed wiki link]

Additions:
The term "affiliate program" is morally neutral, and does not automatically equate to spamming or other unethical practices; many large and legitimate businesses use the affiliate model to great advantage (amazon.com, to name a famous example). Affiliate mailings become affiliate spam, however, in cases like the following:

The sponsoring business prohibits its affiliates from spamming, but a "rogue" affiliate does it anyway. An affiliate sponsor can make all the rules it wants, and publicize them as prominently as it can, but there will always be people who either don't understand the rules or who think that the rules don't apply to them. Thus, even the best-intentioned affiliate program may shelter the occasional spammer in its midst. A well-run and ethical affiliate program, however, will respond to a wave of verifiable spam complaints by "firing" the offender and withholding any rewards due to him. This removes the offender's motivation for continued spamming (unless he wants to continue on as an unpaid Joe-jobber).
The sponsoring business doesn't mind spam being sent on its behalf, and may even recruit spam-mailing specialists to do it. Possibly most hardcore spam operations (drug spam, watch spam, and the like) rely upon some form of affiliate spamming; usually the website operator does not do his own mailing, but instead relies upon unethical bulk-mail specialists, "script kiddies∞," or botherders. In such cases, the affiliate angle may be far less visible to mail recipients or spam analysts than in the cases above. For example, the affiliate may not use the sponsor's URL in his mailings, instead using an empty redirecting website he has set up himself; the sponsor will be able to know which affiliate is responsible for any 'catches' (via info embedded in the redirection link) while at the same time keeping its own website URL out of the spam message (and thus beneath the spam-investigation radar).

Before reporting such websites, you may want to review the information on the ReportingSpamWebsites Wiki page here to see whether such a report would be appropriate. This page may also be useful if you find that SpamCop does not or will not report these websites for you, and you decide to do so yourself.

Deletions:
The term "affiliate program" is morally neutral; many large and legitimate businesses use the affiliate model to great advantage (amazon.com, to name a famous example). Affiliate mailings become affiliate spam, however, in cases like the following:

The sponsoring business prohibits its affiliates from spamming, but a "rogue" affiliate does it anyway. An affiliate sponsor can make all the rules it wants, and publicize them as prominently as it can, but there will always be people who either don't understand the rules or who think that the rules don't apply to them. Thus, even the best-intentioned affiliate program may shelter the occasional spammer in its midst. A well-run and ethical affiliate sponsor, however, will respond to a wave of verifiable spam complaints by "firing" the offender and withholding any rewards due to him. This removes the offender's motivation for continued spamming (unless he wants to continue on as an unpaid Joe-jobber).
The sponsoring business doesn't mind spam being sent on its behalf, and may even recruit spam-mailing specialists to do it. Possibly most hardcore spam operations (drug spam, watch spam, and the like) rely upon some form of affiliate spamming; usually the website operator does not do his own mailing, but instead relies upon bulk-mail specialists, "script kiddies∞," or botherders. In such cases, the affiliate angle may be far less visible to mail recipients or spam analysts than in the cases above. For example, the affiliate may not use the sponsor's URL in his mailings, instead using an empty redirecting website he has set up himself; the sponsor will be able to know which affiliate is responsible for any 'catches' (via info embedded in the redirection link) while at the same time keeping its own website URL out of the spam message (and thus beneath the spam-investigation radar).

Before reporting such websites, you may want to review the information on the ReportingSpamWebsitesRconneR Wiki page to see whether such a report would be appropriate.

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Oldest known version of this page was edited on 2008-01-10 23:44:29 by RconneR []

Affiliate spam

Affiliate spam is unsolicited e-mail (spam) sent by an "affiliate" of a web-based business. The business involved may or may not be complicit in the spamming.

In e-commerce lingo, an "affiliate" is someone who uses his or her own net resources to drum up business for others, in exchange for commissions, prizes, discounts, or other considerations. For example, an affiliate of the website goodstuff.foo might put links to this site in his outgoing mail or on his website; these links would be coded with an ID number that pointed to him (for example, http://goodstuff.foo/?a=126) so that any sales generated as a result of these links can be properly attributed to him, and used to reward him.

The term "affiliate program" is morally neutral; many large and legitimate businesses use the affiliate model to great advantage (amazon.com, to name a famous example). Affiliate mailings become affiliate spam, however, in cases like the following:




Affiliate spamming demonstrates the diffuse and decentralized nature of the spam problem in general, and forces us to abandon the thinking that spam is a "one-person" or "one-company" problem, as it may have been in the days of "chickenboners" (one-man low-rent spam operations that were once very common). It is now usually a mistake to assume that the operator of a spam website had any direct responsibility for the sending of spam mail (or, conversely, that the sender of the mail was directly associated with the website), although of course they are all complicit in unethical or criminal activity.

Reporting affiliate spam

Since affiliate-spam messages are unsolicited broadcasts to large lists of "harvested" e-mail addresses, they are reportable as spam (via SpamCop etc.). As with other kinds of spam, you want to send reports to the internet provider whose resources (hosts or IP addresses) were used to launch the message, as well as the providers responsible for any third-party open relays through which the message passed on its way to you.

In addition, you may choose to report the websites named in the affiliate spam (being sure not to omit affiliate codes that might be found in the website URL or elsewhere in the message). If you report your spam through SpamCop, it will likely prepare these reports for you. Such reports could have the following effect:

• Putting an honest and diligent web merchant on notice that someone is violating his affiliate agreement;
• Forcing an indifferent web merchant to confront the consequences of allowing uncontrolled spamming on his behalf; or
• Notifying the upstream providers of a black-hat web merchant that they have a spam problem.

Before reporting such websites, you may want to review the information on the ReportingSpamWebsitesRconneR Wiki page to see whether such a report would be appropriate.

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CategorySpamTypes

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