Most pop-ups served by nuisance adware programs can be traced directly to marketers - not intermediaries - according to a new study.
Marketers are apparently directly responsible for more than half of pop-ups and other online advertising through adware, reducing the level of plausible deniability regarding their direct connection to the much-despised medium, reports the Associated Press, citing a study by the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). Some 55 percent of ads served via "nuisance" adware, particularly from smaller companies, use no networks of affiliates - and are place knowingly, the CDT said.
The report "Following the Money II: The Role of Intermediaries in Adware Advertising" is based on a study sample of 380 ads served by Zango (formerly,180solutions) and Direct Revenue, and tracing the path those ads take from the advertisers to the adware providers.
In addition to the directly place 55 percent, another 5 percent were placed through intermediaries that had no say in ad placement (ad-serving platforms). Another 20 percent of the ads involved only a single intermediary, in which case the marketers may have been aware that their ads were appearing in the adware programs.
According to the "In the Following the Money I" report, ads placed by major national brands tended to travel through more intermediaries (two, on average) than those placed by lesser-known companies, which averaged less than one (0.7) intermediary per transaction.
"Companies need to take responsibility when their advertising dollars go to support companies that prey on unsuspecting consumers," said CDT Policy Analyst Alissa Cooper, who coauthored the report, said in a statement. "Whether placed directly or through intermediaries, these ads diminish the internet experience for millions of people."
"Clearly, these companies haven't gotten the message about how fed up consumers are with adware and spyware. I can't understand why any legitimate company would risk tarnishing its brand by association with such practices," CDT Deputy Director Ari Schwartz said.
The study (pdf) distinguishes among three types of intermediaries: affiliate networks, ad networks, and ad-serving platforms - each of which operates differently, with varying levels of responsibility. In placing the 380 ads served by Zango and Direct Revenue, 73 intermediaries were involved in displaying these ads, and these intermediaries together made a total of 280 appearances across all the ads.
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The report focuses on a particular form of adware the CDT describes as "nuisance or harmful": It may be deployed without appropriate user consent; may be a nuisance and impair productivity; may display objectionable content, slow users' computers down or cause crashes and loss of data; may not provide users with adequate removal tools; and may be associated with security risks.
