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NebuAd

January 01, 1970

NebuAd was an American online advertising company based in Redwood City, California, with offices in New York and London and was funded by the investment companies Sierra Ventures and Menlo Ventures.[2] It was one of several companies which originally developed behavioral targeting advertising systems, and sought deals with ISPs to enable them to analyse customer's websurfing habits in order to provide them with more relevant, micro-targeted advertising.[3] Phorm was a similar company operating out of Europe. Adzilla and Project Rialto also appear to be developing similar systems.

NebuAd, Inc.
Company typePrivately held Company
IndustryOnline advertising
Founded2006
Defunct2009
HeadquartersCalifornia, United States
Key people
Robert Dykes, Chairman, founder. Kira Makagon Chief Executive Officer and co-founder.[1]

At one point, NebuAd had signed up more than 30 customers, mostly Internet access providers,[4] its agreements with providers covered 10 percent of the broadband users in America.[5] Due to fallout following public and Congressional concern, NebuAd's largest ISP customers pulled out. NebuAd closed for business in the UK in August 2008, followed by the US in May 2009.[6] NebuAd UK Ltd was dissolved in February 2010.[7]

Overview edit

NebuAd's platform comprised three main parts: hardware, hosted within an ISP, capable of inserting content into pages, an off-site server complex to analyse and categorise the contents of users' Internet communications, and relationships with advertising networks willing to present NebuAd's targeted advertising.[8]

The system consisted of hardware device installed within an ISP client network. Each device was capable of monitoring up to 50,000 users.[9] Users could "opt-out" of NebuAd's information collection and targeted ads,[10] but there was no way for users to prevent ISPs from sending the data to NebuAd in the first place.[11][12]

Since ISPs route customers' traffic, it is an important vantage point from which to monitor all traffic to-and-from a consumer using Deep packet inspection (DPI). By analysing the traffic, NebuAd reported it gained more information about a customer's particular interests, than less intrusive methods.[13] NebuAd's privacy policy claimed they "specifically not store or use any information relating to confidential medical information, racial or ethnic origins, religious beliefs, or sexuality, which are tied to personally identifiable information ('sensitive personal information')."[10] It also advises, "The information we collect is stored and processed on NebuAd's servers in the United States. As a result, that information may be subject to access requests by governments, courts or law enforcement."

At least 2 customers of a middle America ISP, WOW! noticed unexpected cookies appearing for sites such as nebuad.adjuggler.com, after using Google, which were being read and written, but when WOW's support department was contacted, WOW initially denied responsibility for the activity.[14] After noticing problems with Google loading slowly, and the creation of these non-Google cookies, one customer spent hours trying to disinfect his machine, as he incorrectly thought it had been infected with spyware, but, when this proved ineffective, he resorted to reinstalling his machine's OS from scratch, only to discover the problem did not go away.[14]

On July 9, 2008, WOW suspended the use of NebuAd services to its subscribers.

According to NebuAd's sales, less than 1% of users opt-out. One ISP expected to earn at least $2.50 per month for each user.[15]

NebuAd bought impressions from ad networks including Valueclick.[16]

NebuAd argued that behavioral targeting enriches the Internet on several fronts. Firstly, website owners are offered an improved click-through rate (CTR), which could increase profits, or reduce the amount of page-space dedicated to advertising. Owners of previously thought ad-unfriendly websites were offered a chance to make money not on the subject matter of their website, but on the interests of their visitors.

Advertisers were offered better targeted adverts, hence reducing the "scattergun approach" (publishing as many ads as possible, in the hope of catching a client) and users were offered more relevant adverts.

ISPs were paid for allowing NebuAd access to their network on a per-user per-active profile basis.

NebuAd used data such as Web search terms, page views, page and ad clicks, time spent on specific sites, zip code, browser info and connection speed to categorise a user's interests.[17] NebuAd did not have access to user identification information from the ISP, but may have been able to discover this through traffic monitoring (for example, email traffic may tie an email address to an ip address). Bob Dykes, the NebuAd CEO claimed in 2008; "We have 800 [consumer interest segments] today and we're expanding that to multiple thousands".[18]

Controversies edit

Generally, NebuAd provided an additional revenue to network operators, which may maintain or lower consumers' Internet access bills. Critics of DPI and targeted advertising believe the raw content of their internet communications are entrusted to the ISP for handling without being inspected, or modified, nor for sale.[19] Privacy advocates criticize the lack of disclosure[20] which some ISPs provided, prior to partnering with NebuAd, was a weak opt-out method,[12] the lack of oversight over what any third-party company does with the contents of Internet communications,[21] its conflicts with United States wiretap laws,[12][15] and the company's refusal to name its partner ISPs.

Consumer notification edit

In February 2008, one American cable operator, Wide Open West (WOW) started rolling out NebuAd. The roll-out was completed in the first week of March 2008. WOW updated its terms and conditions to include a mention of NebuAd,[22] and in some cases informed customers of the terms having been updated. However, customers were not explicitly notified about NebuAd until later, sometime after the third week of March 2008.[14]

In response to an inquiry from members of the United States House of Representatives Telecommunications Subcommittee about its pilot test of NebuAd's services,[23] Embarq said it had notified consumers by revising its privacy policy 2 weeks prior to sending its users' data streams to NebuAd.[24]

A Knology user in Knoxville, Tennessee reported she was not notified her Internet use was being monitored.[25]

In May 2008, Charter Communications announced it planned to monitor websites visited by its customers via a partnership with NebuAd.[26][27] But after customers voiced their concerns, Charter changed its mind in June.[28]

Friction between ISP staff and management edit

Plans to implement NebuAd did not agree with some ISP's employees, including one employee was planned to re-route his traffic to avoid NebuAd's Deep Packet Inspection hardware, altogether.[15]

Opt out vs. opt in edit

Members of US Congress, Ed Markey, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, and Joe Barton, a ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, have argued that such services must be opt-in only to comply with the provisions laid down by Section 631 of the US Communications Act, and they wrote to Charter to request them to suspend the test: "We respectfully request that you do not move forward on Charter Communications' proposed venture with NebuAd until we have an opportunity to discuss with you issues raised by this proposed venture."[29]

A writer for Wired News questioned whether Charter users could really opt out of being monitored or if they were able to opt out only of receiving targeted ads.[12] The same writer has asked if it would breach anti-wiretapping laws.[12]

An engineer who examined the system confirmed there was no way to opt out of NebuAd's monitoring.[30] All inbound and outbound information was intercepted and sent to NebuAd's offsite server to be processed. Even if a user had opted out of the service, it did not prevent the ISP from sending the data to NebuAd.

Use of packet forgery and browser exploits edit

A report by Robert M. Topolski, chief technology consultant of the Free Press and Public Knowledge, showed NebuAd's devices created cookies on end-users machines by injecting a specious packet into the end of the data stream returned in response to some web page requests submitted to search engines, including Google and Yahoo. The content of this specious packet, which would be added to the end of the web page when it is rendered by the end-user's browser, contained HTML script tags which cause the browser to request Javascript from ____.[31]

Superimposing or adding advertising to webpages edit

Critics were concerned that NebuAd superimposed its own advertising over the ads of other advertisers, or placing additional advertising to a page. These concerns originated o the NebuAd's "Fair Eagle" operation, patent application data which mentioned such inventions, and a loose relationship to Claria Corporation whose products and history suggest such tactics, as well as by the following:

In 2007 it was reported that Redmoon, a Texas-based ISP was using a NebuAd technology to inject Redmoon's own advertising into pages visited by its users.[32] The "Fair Eagle" advertisement hardware, provided by NebuAd, inserted additional advertising alongside the content of web pages. The ads featured a window with the "Fair Eagle" title bar. The injected ads stopped appearing toward the end of June, 2007.[33]

Relationship with Claria Corporation edit

Some senior staff members of NebuAd had worked previously at a (now defunct) ad company, named Claria Corporation (formerly, the Gator Corporation), which was well known for ad software known as Gator.[34] Both Claria and NebuAd were located in Redwood City, California.[34] The June 2006 creation[35] of nebuad.com coincides with timing of Claria's decision to shut down[36] the Gator service. NebuAd repeatedly denied any corporate connection to Claria, describing its hiring of Claria employees as a result of that company shedding employees in a tight market for experienced advertising sales staff in the Valley.[34]

ISP partners edit

ISPs that tried out or deployed or prepared to deploy Nebuad included the following:

  • Broadstripe[37][38] (formerly and formally Millennium Digital Media),
  • Decaturnet Internet Services,[39]
  • Eastern Oregon Net, Inc. (EONI),[40]
  • High Speed Networks -E50 (HSNe50),[41]
  • Metro Provider,[42]
  • OnlyInternet.Net,[39]
  • Progressive Internet Services (Jayco.Net),[39]
  • RTC on Line[43] (Rochester Telephone Company, Indiana),
  • 20/20 Communications[44] (2020comm.net)

The following ISPs are listed in legal documents[45] related to the class action notice (see below) as having deployed NebuAd hardware:

  • AllCities
  • Annapolis Wireless Internet
  • AzulStar, Inc.
  • Bresnan Communications, LLC
  • Cable One, Inc.
  • Casco Communications/Peak Internet
  • Cavalier Broadband, LLC
  • CenturyTel, Inc.; CenturyTel Broadband
  • Services, LLC; CenturyTel Service Group, LLC
  • CMS Internet LLC
  • Eastern Oregon Network, Inc.
  • Education Networks of America (ENA)
  • Embarq Management Co.; United Telephone
  • Co. of Eastern Kansas
  • Fire2Wire
  • Galaxy Internet Services
  • Grande Communications
  • High Speed Data Inc.
  • 20/20 Communications
  • iBahn General Holdings
  • Knology, Inc.
  • Mesa Networks, Inc.
  • Millennium Digital Media Systems/Broadstripe
  • Network Evolution, Inc.
  • Nexicom Inc.
  • Ricochet Networks, Inc.
  • Rochester Telephone Company, Inc.
  • Softcom Internet Communications
  • United Online/NetZero
  • Unplugged Cities
  • WideOpenWest Finance, LLC (WOW)

All ISPs ended or suspended their relationship with NebuAd.

  • Charter Communications suspended its plans[46] to test NebuAd following scrutiny from lawmakers and privacy groups.[47]
  • An Embarq[46] spokesperson told the Associated Press that it ended its trial with NebuAd, and has not decided whether to move forward[48] with Behavioral Targeting advertising "either through NebuAd or with any other vendor".[49]
  • CenturyTel, one of the earliest known ISPs to test NebuAd,[4] notified customers in late May 2008 that it was deploying the hardware,[50] only to pull out of the deal alongside of Charter a month later.[51]
  • Bresnan Communications used the NebuAd technology.[52] Following the announcements by Charter, Embarq, and CenturyTel that they would no longer use NebuAd on their networks, Bresnan told a blogger that their NebuAd trial had ended and they would comply with whatever regulatory model emerges from the current debate.[53]
  • Web cache evidence indicated that Blackfoot Telecommunications Group, Inc. of Missoula, Montana appeared to have tried NebuAd between March and May 2008.[54] Blackfoot's Mary Worden later explained, "Blackfoot tested NebuAd on its internal corporate network, with employees only and not with its customers, in March 2008, but had similar concerns to those raised by consumer groups and elected not to launch the service."[54]
  • Nexicom, serving Central Ontario and the Kawarthas, Canada, notified users via its Privacy Policy page that it was using NebuAd as of April 23, 2008.[55] Following a question to users on a public forum, Nexicom's Paul Stewart replied, "Nexicom was investigating using the NebuAd service. The software was never implemented at any time as there were concerns on several levels regarding privacy issues. References to NebuAd in Nexicom's Privacy Policy has been removed."[56]
  • Wide Open West (WOW) completed suspension of NebuAd services on July 9.[14][46] In a response to customer inquiries, WOW indicated, "With Congress in active review of online behavioral advertising, WOW! Internet- Cable- Phone is suspending its deployment of NebuAd services to our subscribers at this time. We believe that all parties are best served by a thoughtful and thorough review of this emerging advertising model, and we welcome the opportunity for that discussion to take place."[57]
  • Knology[37][58] reported to the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce that it discontinued a trial of NebuAd in all markets as of July 14, 2008.[59]
  • Unbeknownst to its users, Cable One conducted NebuAd tests on 14,000 customers in Alabama for six months beginning in November 2007.[60] As of August 2008, Cable One had decided against using the technology "commercially" on its systems[61] but in September said it was waiting for "clear rules and boundaries".[62]

Closure edit

NebuAd was closed down in the UK in August 2008 and in the US in May 2009.[6]

Class-action lawsuit edit

A proposed settlement for a class-action lawsuit against NebuAd was underway in October 2011.[45] All subscribers to the ISPs listed above between January 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, were to be considered mandatory class members and so did not have to opt in and could not choose to opt out. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, NebuAd would create a settlement fund of approximately $2,410,000, to be used for administration of the settlement, covering legal fees, an incentive award of $5,000 to the individual who brought the complaint, providing up to $1000 for other named representatives, with most of the money going to support non-profits providing consumer education and privacy research.[citation needed]

References edit

  1. ^ "NebuAd CEO quits". The Register. 2008-09-03. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  2. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-05-02. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  3. ^ "American ISPs already sharing data with outside ad firms". The Register. 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
  4. ^ a b White, Bobby (2007-12-06). "Watching What You See on the Web". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  5. ^ Whoriskey, Peter (2008-04-04). "Every Click You Make". washingtonpost. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  6. ^ a b . MediaPost. 2009-06-18. Archived from the original on 2010-11-08. Retrieved 2010-08-06.
  7. ^ "[1]"UK Companies House website
  8. ^ . juniperamspmarketing.com. Archived from the original on 2008-07-13. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  9. ^ Hansell, Saul (2008-04-07). . The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
  10. ^ a b . Archived from the original on 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  11. ^ Singel, Ryan (2008-05-16). "Congressmen Ask Charter to Freeze Web Profiling Plan". Threat Level from Wired.com.
  12. ^ a b c d e Single, Ryan (2008-05-16). "Can Charter Broadband Customers Really Opt-Out of Spying? Maybe Not". Wired. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  13. ^ "Robert Dykes (CEO) presenting NebuAd at OnMediaNYC-01/28/2008". vator.tv. 2008-02-18. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
  14. ^ a b c d "Data pimping catches ISP on the hop". The Register. 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  15. ^ a b c Bode, Karl (2008-05-28). "Infighting At ISPs Over Using NebuAD". Broadband Reports.
  16. ^ . clickz. 2008-01-03. Archived from the original on 2008-04-19. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  17. ^ . Digital Destiny. 2008-05-14. Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  18. ^ . ClickZ. 2008-01-03. Archived from the original on 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  19. ^ . 2008-06-12. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  20. ^ "Wide Open West Using NebuAD Users don't get much of a heads up..." 2008-03-11.
  21. ^ "ISP Data Collection — Congress Investigation Urged (NebuAd-CDT Press Release)". 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  22. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-04-14. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  23. ^ Anderson, Nate (2008-07-15). "Congress goes after NebuAd... again". ArsTechnica.com.
  24. ^ . MarketingVOX: The Voice of Online Marketing. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  25. ^ Topolski, Robb (2008-07-21). . Public Knowledge Policy Blog. Archived from the original on 2008-08-04.
  26. ^ Hansell, Saul (2008-05-14). "Charter Will Monitor Customers' Web Surfing to Target Ads". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  27. ^ . May 16, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-05-16.
  28. ^ The Associated Press (June 25, 2008). "Charter Won't Track Customers' Web Use". via The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  29. ^ Metz, Cade (2008-05-16). "US Congress questions legality of Phorm and the Phormettes". The Register. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  30. ^ Anderson, Nate (2008-07-23). "Embarq: Don't all users read our 5,000 word privacy policy?". ArsTechnica.com. He points out that the system is essentially a massive bridge running Fedora, and that NebuAd advises ISPs to install it inline in their networks in such a way that all web traffic passes through it... opted out or not. As the engineer explains, "When we asked them about an opt-out method for our customers, they didn't have one. And unless they alter the architecture of their system drastically, they won't ever have one. Their system is a bridge, so you would need some sort of magical layer-two switching device upstream that switched frames from users that have opted out around the NebuAd appliance. How would you build a device like this without profiling your users in the first place to determine who had opted out? It's not like there is an opt-out bit you can flip in the header of an Ethernet frame." Therefore, while the data actually created and stored by NebuAd or Embarq might end up being totally anonymous and innocuous, everyone's data is still pumped into a third-party box.
  31. ^ Topolski, Robert (2008-06-18). (PDF). Free Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  32. ^ "Real Evil: ISP Inserted Advertising". Techcrunch. 2007-06-23. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  33. ^ . 2007-06-22. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  34. ^ a b c "NebuAd looks to 'spyware' firm for recruits". The Register. 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  35. ^ "Whois Lookup Captcha". whois.domaintools.com.
  36. ^ Keizer, Gregg. . TechWeb Technology News. Archived from the original on 2007-01-05. Claria will exit out of the adware business by the end of the second quarter of 2006.
  37. ^ a b "Broadstripe Now Selling User Browsing History, Joins growing list of NebuAD customers". BroadbandReports.com. 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  38. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-02-24. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  39. ^ a b c "OnlyInternet.Net uses NebuAd for Behavioral Targeting". BroadbandReports.com. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  40. ^ "One More ISP to add to the list of ISPs". BroadbandReports.com. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  41. ^ "And Even One More ISP to add to NebuAds Harem". BroadbandReports.com. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  42. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-05-07.
  43. ^ "RTC on Line aka Rochester Telephone Company sells to NebuAd". BroadbandReports.com. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  44. ^ "20/20 Communications and NebuAd". BroadbandReports.com. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  45. ^ a b "of Pendency of Class Action and Proposed Settlement in the U.S. District Court, Northern District Of California — Valentine, et al. v. NebuAd, Inc., No. 3:08-cv-05113 (TEH)(EMC)" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  46. ^ a b c Hansell, Saul (2008-05-14). "Charter Will Monitor Customers' Web Surfing to Target Ads". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2013-01-04. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  47. ^ Bode, Karl (2008-06-24). "Charter User Monitoring Plans Suspended - 'Enhanced user experience' apparently not so enhanced..." BroadbandReports.com. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  48. ^ "ISP Behavioral Targeting Versus You". 2008-09-26.
  49. ^ Svensson, Peter (2008-06-25). "ISPs still considering tracking Web use". Salon.com. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  50. ^ "CenturyTel and NebuAd". BroadbandReports.com. 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  51. ^ "CenturyTel Drops NebuAd". BroadbandReports.com. 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  52. ^ "Bresnan actively intercepting ALL packets". Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  53. ^ "Bresnan — Internet Privacy Update". John Linko (Blog). 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  54. ^ a b "Blackfoot Telecommunications Group, Inc. Missoula MT Nebuad". BroadbandReports.com. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
  55. ^ "Nexicom Privacy Policy". Retrieved 2008-07-02. Beginning April 23rd, we will partner with a third party to deliver or facilitate delivery of advertisements to our users while they are surfing on the web. These advertisements will be based on those users' anonymous surfing behavior while they are online. This anonymous information will not include those users' name, email address, telephone number, or any other personally identifiable information. By opting out you will continue to receive advertisements as normal; except these advertisements will be less relevant and less useful to you. If you would like to opt out, click here. (links to http://www.nebuad.com/privacy/optout.php page) {{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  56. ^ "Nexicom is using Nebuad". Canadian Broadband Forum on BroadbandReports.com. 2008-07-03.
  57. ^ prack (2008-07-03). "WOW! Suspension of Nebuad Services". DSLReports.com Forums — US Cable Support — W.O.W.
  58. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2008-07-21. 9. Third Party Advertisers. Knology will partner with a third party to deliver or facilitate delivery of advertisements to our users while they are surfing the web. These advertisements will be based on those users' anonymous surfing behavior while they are online. This anonymous information will not include those users' name, email address, telephone number, or any other personally identifiable information. By opting out, You will continue to receive advertisements as normal; except these advertisements will be less relevant and less useful to you. If You would like to opt out, go to: http://nebuad.com/privacy/optout.php {{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  59. ^ Johnson, Rodger; CEO and Chairman of the Board, Knology, Inc. (2008-08-08). (PDF). Committee on Energy and Commerce — US House of Representatives. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2008-08-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  60. ^ Jesdanun, Anick (August 31, 2008). "6 Internet providers disclose Web tracking for ads". Associated Press via Google. Retrieved 2008-09-01.[dead link]
  61. ^ Ji, Philip P. (PDF). Committee on Energy and Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives. Archived from the original (PDF via Google HTML) on August 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  62. ^ Jesdanun, Anick (September 1, 2008). . Associated Press via Google. Archived from the original on September 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-01.

External links edit

  • Valentine v NebuAd, Inc. Settlement Information

January 01, 1970
nebuad, american, online, advertising, company, based, redwood, city, california, with, offices, york, london, funded, investment, companies, sierra, ventures, menlo, ventures, several, companies, which, originally, developed, behavioral, targeting, advertisin. NebuAd was an American online advertising company based in Redwood City California with offices in New York and London and was funded by the investment companies Sierra Ventures and Menlo Ventures 2 It was one of several companies which originally developed behavioral targeting advertising systems and sought deals with ISPs to enable them to analyse customer s websurfing habits in order to provide them with more relevant micro targeted advertising 3 Phorm was a similar company operating out of Europe Adzilla and Project Rialto also appear to be developing similar systems NebuAd Inc Company typePrivately held CompanyIndustryOnline advertisingFounded2006Defunct2009HeadquartersCalifornia United StatesKey peopleRobert Dykes Chairman founder Kira Makagon Chief Executive Officer and co founder 1 At one point NebuAd had signed up more than 30 customers mostly Internet access providers 4 its agreements with providers covered 10 percent of the broadband users in America 5 Due to fallout following public and Congressional concern NebuAd s largest ISP customers pulled out NebuAd closed for business in the UK in August 2008 followed by the US in May 2009 6 NebuAd UK Ltd was dissolved in February 2010 7 Contents 1 Overview 2 Controversies 2 1 Consumer notification 2 2 Friction between ISP staff and management 2 3 Opt out vs opt in 2 4 Use of packet forgery and browser exploits 2 5 Superimposing or adding advertising to webpages 2 6 Relationship with Claria Corporation 3 ISP partners 4 Closure 5 Class action lawsuit 6 References 7 External linksOverview editNebuAd s platform comprised three main parts hardware hosted within an ISP capable of inserting content into pages an off site server complex to analyse and categorise the contents of users Internet communications and relationships with advertising networks willing to present NebuAd s targeted advertising 8 The system consisted of hardware device installed within an ISP client network Each device was capable of monitoring up to 50 000 users 9 Users could opt out of NebuAd s information collection and targeted ads 10 but there was no way for users to prevent ISPs from sending the data to NebuAd in the first place 11 12 Since ISPs route customers traffic it is an important vantage point from which to monitor all traffic to and from a consumer using Deep packet inspection DPI By analysing the traffic NebuAd reported it gained more information about a customer s particular interests than less intrusive methods 13 NebuAd s privacy policy claimed they specifically not store or use any information relating to confidential medical information racial or ethnic origins religious beliefs or sexuality which are tied to personally identifiable information sensitive personal information 10 It also advises The information we collect is stored and processed on NebuAd s servers in the United States As a result that information may be subject to access requests by governments courts or law enforcement At least 2 customers of a middle America ISP WOW noticed unexpected cookies appearing for sites such as nebuad adjuggler com after using Google which were being read and written but when WOW s support department was contacted WOW initially denied responsibility for the activity 14 After noticing problems with Google loading slowly and the creation of these non Google cookies one customer spent hours trying to disinfect his machine as he incorrectly thought it had been infected with spyware but when this proved ineffective he resorted to reinstalling his machine s OS from scratch only to discover the problem did not go away 14 On July 9 2008 WOW suspended the use of NebuAd services to its subscribers According to NebuAd s sales less than 1 of users opt out One ISP expected to earn at least 2 50 per month for each user 15 NebuAd bought impressions from ad networks including Valueclick 16 NebuAd argued that behavioral targeting enriches the Internet on several fronts Firstly website owners are offered an improved click through rate CTR which could increase profits or reduce the amount of page space dedicated to advertising Owners of previously thought ad unfriendly websites were offered a chance to make money not on the subject matter of their website but on the interests of their visitors Advertisers were offered better targeted adverts hence reducing the scattergun approach publishing as many ads as possible in the hope of catching a client and users were offered more relevant adverts ISPs were paid for allowing NebuAd access to their network on a per user per active profile basis NebuAd used data such as Web search terms page views page and ad clicks time spent on specific sites zip code browser info and connection speed to categorise a user s interests 17 NebuAd did not have access to user identification information from the ISP but may have been able to discover this through traffic monitoring for example email traffic may tie an email address to an ip address Bob Dykes the NebuAd CEO claimed in 2008 We have 800 consumer interest segments today and we re expanding that to multiple thousands 18 Controversies editGenerally NebuAd provided an additional revenue to network operators which may maintain or lower consumers Internet access bills Critics of DPI and targeted advertising believe the raw content of their internet communications are entrusted to the ISP for handling without being inspected or modified nor for sale 19 Privacy advocates criticize the lack of disclosure 20 which some ISPs provided prior to partnering with NebuAd was a weak opt out method 12 the lack of oversight over what any third party company does with the contents of Internet communications 21 its conflicts with United States wiretap laws 12 15 and the company s refusal to name its partner ISPs Consumer notification edit In February 2008 one American cable operator Wide Open West WOW started rolling out NebuAd The roll out was completed in the first week of March 2008 WOW updated its terms and conditions to include a mention of NebuAd 22 and in some cases informed customers of the terms having been updated However customers were not explicitly notified about NebuAd until later sometime after the third week of March 2008 14 In response to an inquiry from members of the United States House of Representatives Telecommunications Subcommittee about its pilot test of NebuAd s services 23 Embarq said it had notified consumers by revising its privacy policy 2 weeks prior to sending its users data streams to NebuAd 24 A Knology user in Knoxville Tennessee reported she was not notified her Internet use was being monitored 25 In May 2008 Charter Communications announced it planned to monitor websites visited by its customers via a partnership with NebuAd 26 27 But after customers voiced their concerns Charter changed its mind in June 28 Friction between ISP staff and management edit Plans to implement NebuAd did not agree with some ISP s employees including one employee was planned to re route his traffic to avoid NebuAd s Deep Packet Inspection hardware altogether 15 Opt out vs opt in edit Members of US Congress Ed Markey chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet and Joe Barton a ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have argued that such services must be opt in only to comply with the provisions laid down by Section 631 of the US Communications Act and they wrote to Charter to request them to suspend the test We respectfully request that you do not move forward on Charter Communications proposed venture with NebuAd until we have an opportunity to discuss with you issues raised by this proposed venture 29 A writer for Wired News questioned whether Charter users could really opt out of being monitored or if they were able to opt out only of receiving targeted ads 12 The same writer has asked if it would breach anti wiretapping laws 12 An engineer who examined the system confirmed there was no way to opt out of NebuAd s monitoring 30 All inbound and outbound information was intercepted and sent to NebuAd s offsite server to be processed Even if a user had opted out of the service it did not prevent the ISP from sending the data to NebuAd Use of packet forgery and browser exploits edit A report by Robert M Topolski chief technology consultant of the Free Press and Public Knowledge showed NebuAd s devices created cookies on end users machines by injecting a specious packet into the end of the data stream returned in response to some web page requests submitted to search engines including Google and Yahoo The content of this specious packet which would be added to the end of the web page when it is rendered by the end user s browser contained HTML script tags which cause the browser to request Javascript from 31 Superimposing or adding advertising to webpages edit Critics were concerned that NebuAd superimposed its own advertising over the ads of other advertisers or placing additional advertising to a page These concerns originated o the NebuAd s Fair Eagle operation patent application data which mentioned such inventions and a loose relationship to Claria Corporation whose products and history suggest such tactics as well as by the following In 2007 it was reported that Redmoon a Texas based ISP was using a NebuAd technology to inject Redmoon s own advertising into pages visited by its users 32 The Fair Eagle advertisement hardware provided by NebuAd inserted additional advertising alongside the content of web pages The ads featured a window with the Fair Eagle title bar The injected ads stopped appearing toward the end of June 2007 33 Relationship with Claria Corporation edit Some senior staff members of NebuAd had worked previously at a now defunct ad company named Claria Corporation formerly the Gator Corporation which was well known for ad software known as Gator 34 Both Claria and NebuAd were located in Redwood City California 34 The June 2006 creation 35 of nebuad com coincides with timing of Claria s decision to shut down 36 the Gator service NebuAd repeatedly denied any corporate connection to Claria describing its hiring of Claria employees as a result of that company shedding employees in a tight market for experienced advertising sales staff in the Valley 34 ISP partners editISPs that tried out or deployed or prepared to deploy Nebuad included the following Broadstripe 37 38 formerly and formally Millennium Digital Media Decaturnet Internet Services 39 Eastern Oregon Net Inc EONI 40 High Speed Networks E50 HSNe50 41 Metro Provider 42 OnlyInternet Net 39 Progressive Internet Services Jayco Net 39 RTC on Line 43 Rochester Telephone Company Indiana 20 20 Communications 44 2020comm net The following ISPs are listed in legal documents 45 related to the class action notice see below as having deployed NebuAd hardware AllCities Annapolis Wireless Internet AzulStar Inc Bresnan Communications LLC Cable One Inc Casco Communications Peak Internet Cavalier Broadband LLC CenturyTel Inc CenturyTel Broadband Services LLC CenturyTel Service Group LLC CMS Internet LLC Eastern Oregon Network Inc Education Networks of America ENA Embarq Management Co United Telephone Co of Eastern Kansas Fire2Wire Galaxy Internet Services Grande Communications High Speed Data Inc 20 20 Communications iBahn General Holdings Knology Inc Mesa Networks Inc Millennium Digital Media Systems Broadstripe Network Evolution Inc Nexicom Inc Ricochet Networks Inc Rochester Telephone Company Inc Softcom Internet Communications United Online NetZero Unplugged Cities WideOpenWest Finance LLC WOW All ISPs ended or suspended their relationship with NebuAd Charter Communications suspended its plans 46 to test NebuAd following scrutiny from lawmakers and privacy groups 47 An Embarq 46 spokesperson told the Associated Press that it ended its trial with NebuAd and has not decided whether to move forward 48 with Behavioral Targeting advertising either through NebuAd or with any other vendor 49 CenturyTel one of the earliest known ISPs to test NebuAd 4 notified customers in late May 2008 that it was deploying the hardware 50 only to pull out of the deal alongside of Charter a month later 51 Bresnan Communications used the NebuAd technology 52 Following the announcements by Charter Embarq and CenturyTel that they would no longer use NebuAd on their networks Bresnan told a blogger that their NebuAd trial had ended and they would comply with whatever regulatory model emerges from the current debate 53 Web cache evidence indicated that Blackfoot Telecommunications Group Inc of Missoula Montana appeared to have tried NebuAd between March and May 2008 54 Blackfoot s Mary Worden later explained Blackfoot tested NebuAd on its internal corporate network with employees only and not with its customers in March 2008 but had similar concerns to those raised by consumer groups and elected not to launch the service 54 Nexicom serving Central Ontario and the Kawarthas Canada notified users via its Privacy Policy page that it was using NebuAd as of April 23 2008 55 Following a question to users on a public forum Nexicom s Paul Stewart replied Nexicom was investigating using the NebuAd service The software was never implemented at any time as there were concerns on several levels regarding privacy issues References to NebuAd in Nexicom s Privacy Policy has been removed 56 Wide Open West WOW completed suspension of NebuAd services on July 9 14 46 In a response to customer inquiries WOW indicated With Congress in active review of online behavioral advertising WOW Internet Cable Phone is suspending its deployment of NebuAd services to our subscribers at this time We believe that all parties are best served by a thoughtful and thorough review of this emerging advertising model and we welcome the opportunity for that discussion to take place 57 Knology 37 58 reported to the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce that it discontinued a trial of NebuAd in all markets as of July 14 2008 59 Unbeknownst to its users Cable One conducted NebuAd tests on 14 000 customers in Alabama for six months beginning in November 2007 60 As of August 2008 Cable One had decided against using the technology commercially on its systems 61 but in September said it was waiting for clear rules and boundaries 62 Closure editNebuAd was closed down in the UK in August 2008 and in the US in May 2009 6 Class action lawsuit editThis section needs expansion You can help by adding to it October 2011 A proposed settlement for a class action lawsuit against NebuAd was underway in October 2011 45 All subscribers to the ISPs listed above between January 1 2007 and July 1 2008 were to be considered mandatory class members and so did not have to opt in and could not choose to opt out Under the terms of the proposed settlement NebuAd would create a settlement fund of approximately 2 410 000 to be used for administration of the settlement covering legal fees an incentive award of 5 000 to the individual who brought the complaint providing up to 1000 for other named representatives with most of the money going to support non profits providing consumer education and privacy research citation needed References edit NebuAd CEO quits The Register 2008 09 03 Retrieved 2008 09 04 Management amp Investors Archived from the original on 2008 05 02 Retrieved 2008 04 26 American ISPs already sharing data with outside ad firms The Register 2008 04 10 Retrieved 2008 04 18 a b White Bobby 2007 12 06 Watching What You See on the Web The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 2008 05 21 Whoriskey Peter 2008 04 04 Every Click You Make washingtonpost Retrieved 2008 05 14 a b Case Closed NebuAd Shuts Down MediaPost 2009 06 18 Archived from the original on 2010 11 08 Retrieved 2010 08 06 1 UK Companies House website Juniper Networks partners with NebuAd to enable ISPs to participate in online advertising revenues on the web juniperamspmarketing com Archived from the original on 2008 07 13 Retrieved 2008 06 28 Hansell Saul 2008 04 07 NebuAd Observes Useful but Innocuous Web Browsing The New York Times Archived from the original on 2008 04 11 Retrieved 2008 04 18 a b NebuAd Privacy Archived from the original on 2008 06 11 Retrieved 2008 06 28 Singel Ryan 2008 05 16 Congressmen Ask Charter to Freeze Web Profiling Plan Threat Level from Wired com a b c d e Single Ryan 2008 05 16 Can Charter Broadband Customers Really Opt Out of Spying Maybe Not Wired Retrieved 2008 05 17 Robert Dykes CEO presenting NebuAd at OnMediaNYC 01 28 2008 vator tv 2008 02 18 Archived from the original on July 22 2012 Retrieved 2008 07 03 a b c d Data pimping catches ISP on the hop The Register 2008 04 22 Retrieved 2008 04 23 a b c Bode Karl 2008 05 28 Infighting At ISPs Over Using NebuAD Broadband Reports Questions for Bob Dykes NebuAd CEO clickz 2008 01 03 Archived from the original on 2008 04 19 Retrieved 2008 05 14 Charter Cable to Spy on its Broadband Users to Serve Targeted Ads via NebuAd Digital Destiny 2008 05 14 Archived from the original on 2008 05 17 Retrieved 2008 05 14 ISPs Collect User Data for Behavioral Ad Targeting ClickZ 2008 01 03 Archived from the original on 2008 06 12 Retrieved 2008 05 14 CDT Urges Stronger Guidelines for Behavioral Advertising 2008 06 12 Archived from the original on September 5 2008 Retrieved 2008 06 19 Wide Open West Using NebuAD Users don t get much of a heads up 2008 03 11 ISP Data Collection Congress Investigation Urged NebuAd CDT Press Release 2008 06 06 Retrieved 2008 06 20 WOW Terms and Conditions Archived from the original on 2008 04 14 Retrieved 2008 04 30 Anderson Nate 2008 07 15 Congress goes after NebuAd again ArsTechnica com Customers Shoulda Read the Privacy Policy Says Embarq MarketingVOX The Voice of Online Marketing Archived from the original on 2011 07 14 Retrieved 2008 07 23 Topolski Robb 2008 07 21 Ready Fire Aim NebuAd and Charter Shellacked Right Idea Wrong Targets Public Knowledge Policy Blog Archived from the original on 2008 08 04 Hansell Saul 2008 05 14 Charter Will Monitor Customers Web Surfing to Target Ads The New York Times Retrieved 2010 05 20 Charter wants to track users and replace online adverts The INQUIRER May 16 2008 Archived from the original on 2008 05 16 The Associated Press June 25 2008 Charter Won t Track Customers Web Use via The New York Times Company Retrieved 2008 06 29 Metz Cade 2008 05 16 US Congress questions legality of Phorm and the Phormettes The Register Retrieved 2008 05 17 Anderson Nate 2008 07 23 Embarq Don t all users read our 5 000 word privacy policy ArsTechnica com He points out that the system is essentially a massive bridge running Fedora and that NebuAd advises ISPs to install it inline in their networks in such a way that all web traffic passes through it opted out or not As the engineer explains When we asked them about an opt out method for our customers they didn t have one And unless they alter the architecture of their system drastically they won t ever have one Their system is a bridge so you would need some sort of magical layer two switching device upstream that switched frames from users that have opted out around the NebuAd appliance How would you build a device like this without profiling your users in the first place to determine who had opted out It s not like there is an opt out bit you can flip in the header of an Ethernet frame Therefore while the data actually created and stored by NebuAd or Embarq might end up being totally anonymous and innocuous everyone s data is still pumped into a third party box Topolski Robert 2008 06 18 NebuAd and Partner ISPs Wiretapping Forgery and Browser Hijacking PDF Free Press Archived from the original PDF on 2008 09 19 Retrieved 2008 06 19 Real Evil ISP Inserted Advertising Techcrunch 2007 06 23 Retrieved 2008 04 26 benanderson net Fair Eagle taking over the world ISPs being compromised or just cheap 2007 06 22 Archived from the original on 2007 10 21 Retrieved 2008 06 19 a b c NebuAd looks to spyware firm for recruits The Register 2008 06 20 Retrieved 2008 06 20 Whois Lookup Captcha whois domaintools com Keizer Gregg Claria Abandons Adware TechWeb Technology News Archived from the original on 2007 01 05 Claria will exit out of the adware business by the end of the second quarter of 2006 a b Broadstripe Now Selling User Browsing History Joins growing list of NebuAD customers BroadbandReports com 2008 05 14 Retrieved 2008 06 25 Broadstripe High Speed Internet Online Privacy Policy Archived from the original on 2008 02 24 Retrieved 2008 05 14 a b c OnlyInternet Net uses NebuAd for Behavioral Targeting BroadbandReports com 2008 06 26 Retrieved 2008 06 26 One More ISP to add to the list of ISPs BroadbandReports com 2008 06 26 Retrieved 2008 06 26 And Even One More ISP to add to NebuAds Harem BroadbandReports com 2008 06 26 Retrieved 2008 06 26 Metro Provider Privacy Policy Archived from the original on 2008 05 07 RTC on Line aka Rochester Telephone Company sells to NebuAd BroadbandReports com 2008 06 26 Retrieved 2008 06 26 20 20 Communications and NebuAd BroadbandReports com 2008 06 26 Retrieved 2008 06 26 a b of Pendency of Class Action and Proposed Settlement in the U S District Court Northern District Of California Valentine et al v NebuAd Inc No 3 08 cv 05113 TEH EMC PDF Archived PDF from the original on May 25 2014 Retrieved 2011 10 24 a b c Hansell Saul 2008 05 14 Charter Will Monitor Customers Web Surfing to Target Ads The New York Times Archived from the original on 2013 01 04 Retrieved 2008 05 14 Bode Karl 2008 06 24 Charter User Monitoring Plans Suspended Enhanced user experience apparently not so enhanced BroadbandReports com Retrieved 2008 06 25 ISP Behavioral Targeting Versus You 2008 09 26 Svensson Peter 2008 06 25 ISPs still considering tracking Web use Salon com Retrieved 2008 06 25 CenturyTel and NebuAd BroadbandReports com 2008 05 28 Retrieved 2008 06 27 CenturyTel Drops NebuAd BroadbandReports com 2008 06 27 Retrieved 2008 06 27 Bresnan actively intercepting ALL packets Retrieved 2008 06 18 Bresnan Internet Privacy Update John Linko Blog 2008 07 01 Retrieved 2008 07 01 a b Blackfoot Telecommunications Group Inc Missoula MT Nebuad BroadbandReports com 2008 06 26 Retrieved 2008 06 30 Nexicom Privacy Policy Retrieved 2008 07 02 Beginning April 23rd we will partner with a third party to deliver or facilitate delivery of advertisements to our users while they are surfing on the web These advertisements will be based on those users anonymous surfing behavior while they are online This anonymous information will not include those users name email address telephone number or any other personally identifiable information By opting out you will continue to receive advertisements as normal except these advertisements will be less relevant and less useful to you If you would like to opt out click here links to http www nebuad com privacy optout php page a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a External link in code class cs1 code quote code help Nexicom is using Nebuad Canadian Broadband Forum on BroadbandReports com 2008 07 03 prack 2008 07 03 WOW Suspension of Nebuad Services DSLReports com Forums US Cable Support W O W Knology Customer Service Agreement PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2008 07 03 Retrieved 2008 07 21 9 Third Party Advertisers Knology will partner with a third party to deliver or facilitate delivery of advertisements to our users while they are surfing the web These advertisements will be based on those users anonymous surfing behavior while they are online This anonymous information will not include those users name email address telephone number or any other personally identifiable information By opting out You will continue to receive advertisements as normal except these advertisements will be less relevant and less useful to you If You would like to opt out go to http nebuad com privacy optout php a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a External link in code class cs1 code quote code help Johnson Rodger CEO and Chairman of the Board Knology Inc 2008 08 08 RE Internet Advertising Inquiry PDF Committee on Energy and Commerce US House of Representatives Archived from the original PDF on 2008 08 29 Retrieved 2008 08 11 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Jesdanun Anick August 31 2008 6 Internet providers disclose Web tracking for ads Associated Press via Google Retrieved 2008 09 01 dead link Ji Philip P Letter from Responses to August 1 2008 Letters to Network Operators Regarding Data Collection Practices PDF Committee on Energy and Commerce U S House of Representatives Archived from the original PDF via Google HTML on August 29 2008 Retrieved 2008 09 01 Jesdanun Anick September 1 2008 Ad targeting based on ISP tracking now in doubt Associated Press via Google Archived from the original on September 4 2008 Retrieved 2008 09 01 External links editValentine v NebuAd Inc Settlement Information Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title NebuAd amp oldid 1219083634, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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