The Register reports: NebuAd looks to ’spyware’ firm for recruits.
According to public profiles posted to the social networking sites LinkedIn and LinkSV, NebuAd shares at least five high-ranking employees with Gator Corporation, the company that famously changed its name to Claria in October 2003 in an apparent attempt to shake-off its reputation as a spyware distributor.
These employees are: Scott Tavenner, Vice President of Business Development; Chuck Gilbert, Senior Product Manager; Mike Miller, Vice President of Ad Sales; Amy Auranicky, Director of Advertising Sales; and Jeanne Houwelingis, Vice President of Advertising Services.
Like Claria, NebuAd is based in Redwood City, California, and the company registered its domain in June 2006, just as Claria was leaving the adware business.
But NebuAd says that any ties to Claria are tenuous. “NebuAd and Claria are separate companies with different investors and management and have never been associated with each other,” reads a statement from NebuAd.
http://www.nebuad.com/
Through our unique technology and ISP partnerships, NebuAd combines web-wide consumer visibility with micro-targeted ads delivered at the right time in the buying cycle. This network-level approach enables behavioral targeting to finally attain its true promise of a greater scale of impressions, and greater relevance to drive increased revenue per impression.
Gigaom: Internet Watchdogs Attack NebuAd
ClickZ: Questions for Bob Dykes, NebuAd CEO
Ars Technica: NebuAd ads inserted via “man-in-the-middle attack”
MediaPost: NebuAd Accused Of Ignoring Online Privacy Basic Rules
Wired Blog Network: NebuAd Forges Packets, Violates Net Standards
Techdirt: Research Into NebuAd Finds Controversial And Potentially Illegal Tactics
Wired Blog Network: NebuAd Defends Murky System to ‘Opt-Out’ From Charter Snooping
Etc…
Edit:
Heise Online UK:
Report slams US advert server for “wiretapping, forgery and browser hijacking”
US personalised advert server NebuAd has been accused by lobbying group Free Press of tampering with web traffic and third party page content and illicit redirection of users’ requests.
The matter has already been put before the US Congress.
Charter Watcher:
Some background on NebuAD
For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 5 confirmed Gator/Claria connections, 2 connections to other spyware companies, a security guy, and a deep packet inspection guru thus far.
Are these the people we really want running a network which has unfettered access to the most intimate aspects of our lives? Even if what they were doing was legal, which is (sic) isn’t, do these seem like the best people with whom to team up?
