NamePros.com Gets Outed In Browser History Sniffing Fiasco

[Adam Dicker]

12|10|2010 1:27 pm EDT

NamePros.com Gets Outed In Browser History Sniffing Fiasco
by Adam Strong

In a story on ZDNet this week, adult website YouPorn.com is being sued for “browser history sniffing”. ZDNet points to a study conducted by University of California, San Diego of the global to 50,000 sites on the internet. In the study the researchers claim to have “confirmed that 46 websites used browser (history) sniffing to see which sites users visited before they arrived, and noted 326 sites they deemed “suspicious” in history tracking practices.” Of the 46 sites mentioned, Namepros.com was one that the researches found to be engaging in this ‘suspicious’ browser history sniffing and “actually doing history hijacking”.

Browser history sniffing typically uses javascript to allow the site operator to gain access to information about site users. Much of the information can be used to improve user experience. Typically online aggregators, social bookmarking services and ad networks use code that sniffs browser histories.

The UCSD report also mentions other sites such as Youtube and Microsoft were also performing some covert behavioral sniffing of site visitors. Many more sites are likely involved in browser history sniffing or some form of behavior tracking, some may not even be aware that they are doing so. Ad networks, browser tools and other services provided by companies like Interclick and Meaningtool reportedly are the source of most of these “suspicious activities”.

The plaintiffs in the case claim YouPorn is violating the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act as well as California computer laws as well as deceptive and unfair business practices and competition. We suspect that NamePros was using scripts from an ad network Feedjit, as owner Ron James points out in our comments section, and was caught up in what looks like a privacy-witch-hunt. We’ve emailed NamePros.com owner Ron James about this story and have not heard back from him yet.

If you want to protect yourself from browser history sniffing, there are some things you can do . According to an article on About.com , you can delete your browser history cache frequently or change the way that your browser handles visited links. If you click on a link in most browsers it changes color. The sniffers compare your cache to see what links in your cache you have clicked, if you set your “visited link” color to the same color as a “non-clicked” link this may block the sniffer from know where you visited. DNN provides no guarantee that this will protect you from browser history sniffing.

http://www.domainnamenews.com/news/n...ng-fiasco/8482

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/you...27?tag=nl.e539

[ecomindia]

Hmmmmmmm ... knock knock DNF ... am i safe?

[Adam Dicker]

Hmmmmmmm ... knock knock DNF ... am i safe?

100%, you don't see us mentioned do you? lol

[ecomindia]

[Gerry]

I had read about this elsewhere but no recall about NP being mentioned.

Funny, funny, stuff.

There is not much going out there that surprises me. Nor do I believe it will ever be possible to be completely anonymous while on the internet.

[ecomindia]

trust me, a single bit of information reaching me from US to here in India had pinged so many servers, each under different regulations , policies via different countries ... that browser sniffing is just a baby work of any amateur developer

how well you keep doing it without being said by any authority "hey, dont dare you do it" keeps marketing model running for many!

[KING dot NET]

Tsk... this is serious issue, maybe some advertisers "code" ... every time I see those ads creep me out. For the mean time, no namepros for now .. maybe facebook for alternative.

[DomainsInc]

i wonder if this was posted there if it would be deleted.

[Gerry]

i wonder if this was posted there if it would be deleted.

I expect it would be.

NP is infamous for banning people as well as deleting threads.

[Acro]

Sorry, but the DNN article is lacking objectivity and it's failing to disclose certain facts.

[katherine]

I thought it was a no-no to discuss competing forums

[EUROPEAN]

What ever happened with the ebay cookie stuffing court case on the other popular forum?

[wussadotcom]

What ever happened with the ebay cookie stuffing court case on the other popular forum?

No update yet on that case, though this is an interesting read.
I am not sure what standards are taken by the researchers, but what I do know is that many SEO plugins are used to snuff out example:
what keywords that the visitors arrived at their site was using in SEs.
These keywords are then used and optimize for SEO purposes.

The same example for blogs, thats why you see normal taglines like:
Welcome visitor from Google etc.

Personally I don't really see any problem with that unless it involves stuffing your cookies with your affiliate code without permission etc.
The U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act needs some serious guidelines if they want to be taken seriously.

[myst woman]

namespros has other problems,. But it was hard not to think this was happening. Like you couldn't tell.

[Banned: Tippy]

I thought it was a no-no to discuss competing forums

I guess in this case its ok as its more or less simply trying to make them look bad and DNF look good/better.

[linkdomain]

not surprised after having dealings with owner before there was a NP. happy to have DNF.

[bwhhisc]

POSTED BY RON JAMES, OWNER AT NAMEPROS (at NamePros) under thread "privacy concerns".

Dear NamePros Members,

There is a story circulating on Domain Name News that tries to link us to YouPorn.com's current scandal.

http://www.domainnamenews.com/news/n...ng-fiasco/8482

I just wanted to post and let you know we do not track our user's browsing history. We do make use of a stats service called Feedjit Pro and have a Facebook Connect feature that can connect your NamePros account to your Facebook account. Both service have their own privacy protections as well.

If there are any legitimate concerns of privacy on NamePros including our use of Feedjit, that I will promptly address there here with you in this thread or privately by email. My email address is rj{at}namepros.com.

Our privacy policy is linked from every page of our site. It is located at
http://www.namepros.com/privacypolicy.php

Sincerely,

Ron James
NamePros.com

[ecomindia]

follow the basics:
keep your operating system updates enabled and never avoid critical updates
keep your browser uptodate, we seem to take this easliy and keep clicking on "later"
keep a good antivirus and internet security tool. evey cent of it is worth .
(mcafee is offering free for 6 months to it's facebook fans - link here http://www.facebook.com/McAfee?v=app...1893645&ref=ts )

client side scripting works like a sitting time bomb for the users using public internet access with having secured** data...

just imagine how the domain parking companies, revenue sharing companies (affiliates) track?
although if you read thru the 100 pages of policy, one line somewhere will mention what is ben shared, how it will be used and also the controls where ever appicable !

[Adam Dicker]

I guess in this case its ok as its more or less simply trying to make them look bad and DNF look good/better.

I didn't write the article.

-=DCG=-

[SIKHboy]

Namepros knew most the visitors are coming from dnf? not a fair competition i guess? anyway, i dont like namepros anyway, mods are so dumb and stupid, not a Professional forum, totally sucks.

I love dnf, and this is the best and Professional domaining forum, i visit dnf about 10-50 times a day.