Fraud traffic detection?
- Thread starter jkols
- Start date
From what I understand, traffic that doesn't convert is legitimate, however if traffic converts, there's reason to suspect it's fraud.
I heard about it last week. I get what they are trying to do but not how they are doing it. They claim they are getting a “digital fingerprint” from a computer and then putting that information in a database. I asked the sales guy how they collect that fingerprint or what it was but he wouldn’t tell me. My IT guys looked at it and it appears to be a hardware device ID or a combination of device IDs. I am not comfortable putting anything on a site that collects the users device IDs without user permission. Sound like personal information to me. It sounds good but I don’t want to be the first network to get a states attorney call over this. I’ll let some other guy be the guinea pig here.
Google's been doing this for years - it is the user's MAC address of their network card.
Looking into these posts I'm more concerned about the privacy policy. If these are not mac addresses as stated and the app in question is getting more information without end user's knowledge then there are bigger issues then we are all anticipating. I wonder if this is even legal. I going to see if I can get a demo of this application but all sounds very suspicious.
Holy 1 post wonders in this thread.
3 people come out of the woodworks to comment on this issue? yeaaaa ok.
3 people come out of the woodworks to comment on this issue? yeaaaa ok.
This is what it says on the company site. Sounds like like personal info to me ????
Smart Device Fingerprinting
By collecting a fingerprint of each device, CPA Detective is able to build a digital persona without using any Personally Identifiable Information
Smart Device Fingerprinting
By collecting a fingerprint of each device, CPA Detective is able to build a digital persona without using any Personally Identifiable Information
I just did a test of CPA Detective with an advertiser I consult for. It detected some fraud, but nothing I wouldn't have been able to find with a simple manual inspection of the data. It did catch it faster since I don't look at the data as frequently as the tool does - but that isn't a huge deal since I always look it over before the cutoff for fraud chargebacks anyway.
What's more, I caught several instances of fraud that CPA Detective didn't. In this case, I definitely didn't find it to be worth the money.
What's more, I caught several instances of fraud that CPA Detective didn't. In this case, I definitely didn't find it to be worth the money.
[FONT="]Alright guys.... Stephanie is right! I work for an affiliate who uses this. As of right now we are losing pubs right and left. Good pubs who have been with us a long time and made us big money. I don't get this. The system tells us the pub sucks and their leads suck but for more than two years the leads have been good and my clients are renewing. On top of that the system seems to be taking the traffic it doesn't like and sending the traffic to sites that are not mine or my clients. Yes, it's taking my traffic. It goes to this site http://surveys-digital.net/d/p/s3t7a65357. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I'd avoid this thing at all costs. I agree with Stephanie!!!!!! Not only is it not worth the money it's going to cost you money in lost pubs and clients. I hate crap like this. BTW....... look for this link in a redirect. [/FONT][FONT="]www.securepaths.com/pixel.cgi?rt=1_clickAJAX&originatingRequestId=[/FONT][FONT="] followed by some cgi and ajax code. That's the tipoff that this thing is running. And yes, since it's cgi and ajax code we all know it's using some virus to steal the information about the user's computer. I wonder if all they are taking is a "fingerprint" what other things might we be giving this thing access to? Our user bank accounts ?????????? I agree with trafficman. I'd hate to be the government’s first test case on this crap. I've already lost pubs and customers. Is that next? uggg!!!!!![/FONT]
[FONT="]I'd avoid this thing at all costs. I agree with Stephanie!!!!!! Not only is it not worth the money it's going to cost you money in lost pubs and clients. I hate crap like this. BTW....... look for this link in a redirect. [/FONT][FONT="]www.securepaths.com/pixel.cgi?rt=1_clickAJAX&originatingRequestId=[/FONT][FONT="] followed by some cgi and ajax code. That's the tipoff that this thing is running. And yes, since it's cgi and ajax code we all know it's using some virus to steal the information about the user's computer. I wonder if all they are taking is a "fingerprint" what other things might we be giving this thing access to? Our user bank accounts ?????????? I agree with trafficman. I'd hate to be the government’s first test case on this crap. I've already lost pubs and customers. Is that next? uggg!!!!!![/FONT]
Yup, just got back from sanfran and I'm hearing the same things. Pubs and affiliates are calling it spyware, a virus, personal id theft and those are just the nice things. Guess when good pubs and affiliates get hurt it can't be good. This traffic theft is out there too.
True, some talk about this in SF. I heard there are a few AGs looking at this. Names I'm hearing attached to this datran, spire, avenue 100, silvercarrot. How is a digital fingerprint of my computer not personal or confidential? You would think their legal dept would have known this. Weird???
All the fucking fingerprint probably is, is this Panopticlick .
Run that, and see if you're unique. Few post wonders posting about the "talk of this in San Fran" and "AGs looking into this" and "personal and confidential"? What the fuck are you talking about?
Having javascript disabled will decrease the information that can be used - e.g. you go from being 1 in 2.1 million, fully unique, to 1 in 4,500 having the same fingerprint. But still, 1 in 4,500 is probably still a good metric to partially use for fraud detection.
I could roll out a homegrown system that does this with ease. No need to use a third party. Hell, back when I ran affiliate programs, most of the fraud was easy to catch with even simpler techniques. Fraudsters, in my experience, are either pretty stupid, or try to be sophisticated, but still set off red flags that any fraud analyst should be able to find if they know their own product/business.
Run that, and see if you're unique. Few post wonders posting about the "talk of this in San Fran" and "AGs looking into this" and "personal and confidential"? What the fuck are you talking about?
Having javascript disabled will decrease the information that can be used - e.g. you go from being 1 in 2.1 million, fully unique, to 1 in 4,500 having the same fingerprint. But still, 1 in 4,500 is probably still a good metric to partially use for fraud detection.
I could roll out a homegrown system that does this with ease. No need to use a third party. Hell, back when I ran affiliate programs, most of the fraud was easy to catch with even simpler techniques. Fraudsters, in my experience, are either pretty stupid, or try to be sophisticated, but still set off red flags that any fraud analyst should be able to find if they know their own product/business.
What's funny is that it's obvious that you have been caught trying to pull some crap and you're using this forum to justify your bad practices. As mags points out above, anyone complaining has been newly created accounts with minimal posts. I mean, anyone can do that right?
Perhaps if you spent less time treating people like they are stupid and more time improving your business practices, you wouldn't have an issue. I went to the CPA detective website and found exactly what they scan for: Proxy Masking, Cloaking and Pattern Matching. If your company doesn't do any of these things, what are you afraid of?
Perhaps if you spent less time treating people like they are stupid and more time improving your business practices, you wouldn't have an issue. I went to the CPA detective website and found exactly what they scan for: Proxy Masking, Cloaking and Pattern Matching. If your company doesn't do any of these things, what are you afraid of?
Joe, you are MR ONE POST himself. Do you work for them? You sound a little defensive. lol What you missed on their site is this "figerprinting of the users computer". Thats the issue people are having. Using some virus to grab the users computer data. The rest I HAVE NO ISSUE WITH. This is a user privacy issue and people will end up in court. I'm staying away from this. You want to screw with it.... your call.