Advertising companies
What they want, what they do
Some more information about the companies behind the spyware covered by Ad-aware
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Adware Inc
The release of the Software is provided at no charge to the user, because it is sponsored by
advertising present in the software. The software will not expire, nor is any payment due to
Shetef Solutions & Consulting Ltd. (the "Author") unless the user wishes to purchase the
full-featured commercial version. Adware shall neither attain nor use any of your identifying
characteristics. In addition, Adware will not obtain any personal information that could
identify you including your name; picture or voice in order to match said personal characteristics
to the information in the registration form. Nevertheless, by accepting this software, you hereby
authorize Adware to use the information in your registration form when selecting advertisements for you.
By accepting their agreement, you agree that the Software and any additional software needed
will be downloaded into your computer.
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Web3000 www.web3000
They analyze the number of users who visit particular pages, and the amount of time they spend there.
They also analyze the incoming addresses for the purpose of statistical analysis of their user base.
The Web3000.com web site also uses the standard "cookie" mechanism to customize their web page.
If you are using NetSonic Internet Accelerator or NetSonic Pro while visiting Web3000.com,
NetSonic may identify you as a NetSonic user and supply unique information about your NetSonic
registration to their site.
By using their Web site, you consent to the collection and use of this information by Web3000.com
If you are interessted in which applications are using Web3000 technology
you can search our database.
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Comet Cursor www.cometcursor.com
Their software contacts their servers to record logs of cursor impressions. By this they mean that they record whether
you saw a cursor change, what page (URL) you saw the cursor change on, and what page (URL) you chose to view
immediately after seeing the cursor
A "referrer ID" is information from your web browser that shows them from what URL you linked. When you are using
the My Comet Cursor feature, the referrer ID allows them to audit which categories are being viewed. The referrer
IDs are automatically gathered by their servers.
In cases which involve licensing content from other organizations (e.g. Snoopy and other Peanuts characters), Comet
may provide aggregate usage statistics to the licensor.
If you are using Internet Explorer and would like to ensure that you are not prompted to download the Comet Cursor 2.0
software again, see this link and follow the "no nag" instructions:http://download.cometsystems.com/no_nag/nonag.asp.
Choosing the "No more download offers" option will place a cookie on your machine. The cookie will"remember" that you
should never receive solicitations to download the Comet Cursor 2.0 software.
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Radiate www.radiate.com
Radiate delivers content to computer software applications that use Radiate's technology.
If you are interessted in which applications are using Radiate's technology also called Aureate
you can search our database.
If you install a application that contains Aureate, you will recieve a numerical identifier on your computer.
This allows Radiate to report information to advertisers, such as what kind of ad is relevant for just you.
On the Radiate site, Radiate may use cookies to monitor your activity.
In some cases adds will be delivered to your computer even when the adenabeld application is not running.
The ads will be delivered when you launch your web browser.
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Conducent www.conducent.com
Conducent claims in their privacy policy that they do not use cookies in any way and that the information collected
by them is non-personally identifiable.
They also state that that they do not sell, rent or loan any information refarding desktop users to any third party.
Anyway, Timesink creates an folder with your login name to store information and download banner ads.
If you are interessted in which applications are using Conducent technology also called Timesink
you can search our database.
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Gator www.gator.com
v1.7 or lower
Since Gator and OfferCompanion software has been designed to automatically pop up to help you with forms and login pages and to deliver special
offers that are relevant to your shopping activities, we need to pay attention to where you are on the web. And since support from our advertisers
allows us to provide you with Gator and OfferCompanion at no charge, we also maintain a user "profile" to help us determine the best and most
relevant offers, products and services to deliver to you in the future. This profile consists of:
- Your email address, first name, country and ZIP code (limited to first 5 digits in the U.S.).
- Your Gator.com ID which is a numeric identifier that is generated by Gator.com when you download Gator and OfferCompanion.
- Your master Gator password, if you choose to use one.
- Information about a portion of the web pages you visit -- this information includes a site's web address, time spent at a site, transaction
activity, where Gator and OfferCompanion were used, site entry and exit patterns, and portions of the information found on a small number of those web pages.
- Any optional demographic information you choose to provide us such as gender and income.
- Information about which offers/advertisements were delivered by Gator.com, and your response activity to them.
- Standard web log information such as user IP addresses, browser type, browser versions, and screen resolution and operating system versions.
Gator.com uses your profile to determine which of our special offers to deliver to you, and when to deliver them. We try hard to deliver only offers that we
believe will be of interest to you based upon your individual profile. We store your email address to send you optional newsletters and special offers,
and to send your master Gator password to you if you forget it. We use your first name for a friendlier interface between you and the Gator.com programs.
To ensure accuracy, your email, ZIP code and country information is updated on our servers whenever you change this information in the Gator application.
Your profile is updated for as long as you are using Gator and or OfferCompanion software. If you stop using the Gator and OfferCompanion software your
profile will remain in our online database so that we can use it should you later reinstall Gator.com software. However, upon email request to
removeinfo@gator.com, we will promptly remove the information that links your email address to the rest of your profile in our online database.
Please note that we do not delete information from our back-up copies of earlier versions of our databases; however these back-up copies are used
solely to recover data that we still have your permission to use that is inadvertently lost due to such things as equipment failure.
v.1.8
Gator and OfferCompanion have both been designed to automatically pop up to help you with forms and login pages including
special offers that are relevant to your shopping activities. Therefore Gator needs to know where you are on the web.
Gator also maintains a user profile.
The user profile that is kept about you conatins the following:
- Your email address
- Your first name
- Country
- ZIP code
- A Gator ID ( a numeric identefier) will be generated when you download Gator
- Your master Gator password
- Information about web pages you visit (this includes the sites web adress, the time spent on each page,
transaction activity where
Gator and/or OfferCompanion were used, how you got to the site and ow you left it
- What kind of ad or offer was delivered to your computer and your response to them
- Your IP adress, browser type, browser version, screen resolution, and operating system version
If you stop using Gator and/or OfferCompanion, your profile will remain in their online database.
However Gator claims that if you like to be removed from their database you can email your request
to be removed to removeinfo@gator.com .
However you will not be deleted from their back-up copies of earlier versions of their database.
Gator does share information where users surf on the web with advertisers, anyhow Gator states in their privacy
policy that they do not share any personal information about the users.
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Flyswat www.flyswat.com
Each flyswat install has an anonymous random number assigned to it. This random number enables you to customize
flyswat features and content.
The flyswat service logs anonymous click-streams as users navigate the Web. This data has no personal or demographic
information associated with it and will be considered only in aggregate form. flyswat uses this information for product
enhancement and may also share it with our partners to use for product enhancement.
If the flyswat application on your computer ever fails, it will automatically send a diagnosis back to the flyswat server,
with information about the type of system and state of usage when flyswat failed.
Some web sites send personal information via query strings or post data this data may be transmitted through flyswat
but they claim that they do not store it.
To submit a BoosterPack for consideration in the flyswat BoosterPack directory, flyswat will need your e-mail address
in order to communicate with you about your submission. This personal information will not be released to 3rd parties,
and in no event will it be associated with the random number that allows you to customize flyswat.
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Alexa www.alexa.com
Alexa collects and stores information about the web pages you view, the data you enter in online
forms and search fields while using the Alexa software and if you are using version 5.0 or higher
it will also monitor and store information about the products you purchase online.
Some information collected is personal identifiable.
What kind of information does Alexa collect from you
If you are simply visiting the Alexa Web Site, they will collect the full URL of the Web page
came from, the domain name, the date and time for each page you view, the name of and information about
any advertisement that eas brought to you on the Alexa Web site; computer and connection information
such as browswer type and version, operating system, and platform. They will also place a
cookie on your computer so that they can track the pages of their Web site that you view and the
order in wich you view them.
When you download the software you will reciev a cookie to the hard drive of your computer.
The cookie will assign your Web browser a unique series of numbers, letters, or characters that will
enable Alexa to track and store information about your Web usage path and online shopping.
When you use the Service, we collect information about the Web sites you visit and the pages you view.
This information allows us to provide you with information about the Web page you are viewing
(Alexa's Site Info) and to build our database of information about related Web pages (Alexa's Related Links).
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WebHancer www.webhancer.com
This applies to all information collected or submitted on the webHancer website.
On some pages, you can subscribe to product updates and promotions, make privacy requests and
seek technical support.
The types of personal information collected at these pages are your: Name, Email address
The customer companion is a small, transparent program that collects performance data as you transact
with e-business sites. The data collected is used to improve the service offered by e-business operators
A unique identifier is generated for WebHancer to determine the number of times the software is
downloaded, installed and running.
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