Sunbelt’s Eric Howes and Ben Edelman have been doing some research on ComScore’s tracking software (ComScore tracks user behavior for market research) and discovered it installed along with a DollarRevenue adware infestation. Forbes has written about it:
ComScore admits that the company engaged in partnership negotiations with DollarRevenue, even going as far as giving the company test software, says privacy officer Chris Lin. But the discussions stopped there, and the companies never signed a contract. Then, several months ago, comScore software installed by DollarRevenue started reporting back to company servers, says Lin.
DollarRevenue is slime. A simple Google search would reveal this to any casual surfer. Maybe it was in their sales department and didn’t go anywhere after that. Ok, I can buy that, and that is understandable. But why did ComScore software end up in DollarRevenue adware installs after the negotiations broke down? The fundamental problem? ComScore may try hard to police their channels, but they will always lose some aspect of control by using third-party affiliate channels to distribute their software.
Alex Eckelberry