FC: New study investigates how Gator ad-utility actually works

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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

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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."

   [...]




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