Anatomy of a Netscam? -Reply

[Dan Lester]

>>> Julie Mangin <jmangin at nal.usda.gov> 07/08/96
08:47am >>>
"Anatomy of a Netscam: Why Your Internet Search May Not
Be as Honest as
You Think." Washington Post, July 7, 1996, Outlook Section,
page C5.  By
David Corn. 

This article reports that Iron Mountain Global Information
Systems has purchased the words "elections," "Republican,"
"Democratic," and several other words on the Yahoo site. 
What it means is that whenever you search one of these
words, your retrieval list will include a banner ad that says,
"Top Ten Political Sites."  Here is a quote from the article: 
-------------------------
Hey, the Wash Post has to sell newspapers I guess, but we
librarians should be able to do better than to respond to the
incitement to riot.  First, as of two minutes ago, searches on
those words on Yahoo! gave me ads, but not the ones
claimed.  I saw ads for apartment guides, GTE, a computer
company, and so forth, but not even ONE ad for the claimed
concern.  Sure, they could have been pulled since then.  Or
they might not have started yet.  But even if the facts are
correct, so what?
===================
  "What is a bit sleazy is that this "top 10" listing is not
based on any qualitative or quantitative measure.  It is not the
10 most popular political sites with cybersurfers. Nor is it an
expert's judgment of the
10 best political sites. It is, in actuality, a listing of 10
political sites that are willing to pay IMGIS to be included on
the list. IMGIS charges $3,000 a month for the display space
at the top of the Top 10 page; spots further down go for less.
-----------------------
So what?  Who cares?  We all know that there are ads on
Yahoo!, as that is what pays the bills so we don't have to. 
The ads are ALWAYS in the same space, ALWAYS the
same size, ALWAYS clickable to take you to the advertiser's
page, etc.  What's to confuse?  

Second, how do you think a lot of other top ten lists come
about?  Do you think the "Billboard Top Ten Songs" or
whatever is unmanipulable?  Do you think that you or I would
agree necessarily with some "expert's" rating of anything? 
Not likely.  Heck, most of us probably wouldn't agree on
whether or not Independence Day is a great movie, or even
what a great movie is.  
=======================
And on Yahoo! -- the most popular search engine -- the initial
banner that directs a consumer to the Top 10 site is not even
labeled as an advertisement. The bottom-line: IMGIS is
buying up key words in order to push Internet traffic to its
clients' sites." 
-------------------------
Again, so what?  NONE of the advertisements are labelled as
such.  But anyone with half a brain, and that even includes
most of our patrons, can figure out that it is an advertisement
by looking at it or by experience with the things that appear
in the shape and position.  Interestingly enough, MY big
concern is that the ads aren't effective and that web
advertising will die out.  Most of the people I work with and
train, both staff and patrons, don't even NOTICE that the ads
are there and say they've never clicked on one.  If that is true
for most web surfers, the advertisers will realize they're
wasting money and the major indexes and guides will go out
of business.  I've no objection to businesses not making it in
the marketplace, but I'd be unhappy if all the search engines
died out due to lack of support.

I've no doubt there will be continuing changes in the web over
the next bunch of webyears....but this little nonscam is
hardly anything to get worked up about.  

cyclops


Dan Lester, Network Information Coordinator
Boise State University Library, Boise, Idaho, 83725 USA
voice: 208-385-1235   fax:  208-385-1394
dlester at bsu.idbsu.edu     OR    alileste at idbsu.idbsu.edu
Cyclops' Internet Toolbox:    http://cyclops.idbsu.edu
"How can one fool make another wise?"   Kansas, 1979.