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You’re Not Saving Money…Calm The @#*% Down
We discussed this briefly at this weekend’s Dot Com Pho after we heard the news of a Walmart employee getting trampled to death and shootings breaking out over the Black Friday sales a couple days ago. Seriously, we all agreed that this was pure idiocy…not only for the tragic events that occurred but the [...]
Read MoreLook Ma! No spyware
John Chow just posted another update on the status of AGLOCO after speaking to one of founders. Apparently the bar will contain no spyware…something we couldn’t say with AllAdvantage. This should come as a relief to many who thought the bar would contain spyware on top of showing us ads.
In case you’re wondering, I’m up to 44 sign-ups. John, that bastard, is over a thousand. To join our network, click here.
There was also an explanation of how we get paid.
In the beginning of this program, AGLOCO will be rewarding members with shares of the company. 1 hour of surfing time equals 1 share of the company. Members will be able to accumulate 5 shares per month based on the current limits. Members will get 0.25 shares per hour for people in their network. As an example, if all 1006 members in my network surf the maximum 5 hours, I would receive 1,257.5 shares, plus 5 shares from my own surfing, for 1,262.5 shares per month. How much will those shares be worth? Maybe zero, maybe millions. It really depends on how fast the network grows and how well management handles this growth.
As AGLOCO starts to earn income from the Viewbar, members will be able to trade their hours for cash as well as shares. The amount per hour will be adjusted periodically to reflect income earned and company net worth. After a successful IPO, surf hours will mostly trade for cash, but shares will still be available. However, don’t expect to get 1 share per hour at that time.
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- 6 Comments
- In Tech and the Net
I’m at 20 signups right now.. I’d love to keep on promoting the program on my blog, but since [GAS] is all about IT and security, posting a second article promoting agloco would probably get me flamed and make me lose a couple of hundreds of readers..
20 signups for 1000 feed subscribers and 5000 page views per day. Pathetic isn’t it?
Reply^I need that kind of traffic. I’m at just one referral so far. I’d have to say that’s more pathetic. (Anyone reading this, throw me a bone! Check my blog for my referral code (I’m part of John’s and Ed’s networks, so you’re not screwing them over by signing up under me :))
ReplyOf COURSE it is spyware. That’s how it works! It says so right there. They track your browsing, and show ads based on that. That is the basic definition of spyware.
ReplyI couldn’t disagree more with the characterization of the Viewbar as spyware. In my experience, spyware has four main characteristics: 1) It’s installed without your permission; 2) It surreptitiously tracks you; 3) it is difficult if not impossible to turn off or remove; and, 4) it sends your information to an unknown and untrustworthy entity where you have no control over what happens to it.
AGLOCO’s Viewbar (nor AllAdvantage’s Viewbar before it) does not have those characteristics. Indeed, AGLOCO’s Viewbar is the opposite of spyware: you must actively install it, you have to turn it on in order for it to track you and earn your hours, you can easily turn it off and uninstall at will, and finally you know who’s tracking you and our Privacy Policy gives you explicit information about what happens with your data and how you can delete it from our system if you desire.
I know a thing or two about spyware: I was an expert witness in a series of twelve lawsuits in which I testified against one of the major perpetrators of spyware on the Internet. They actually hired me in part because of my experiences at AllAdvantage with permission-based and privacy-protecting advertising technologies like the Viewbar.
If you’re interested (or can’t sleep!) you can read brief excerpts from my 80-page expert witness report (the whole report is, unfortunately, under seal by the federal court). I submitted the excerpts when I testified at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Workshop on Spyware in 2004. My written materials are at: http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/spyware/040319everett-church.pdf .
I hope that helps clarify things a bit more.
Regards,
ReplyRay Everett-Church
AGLOCO Chief Privacy Officer
Spyware is spyware
My good friends Ed, Stephen, and John have hopped on the “All Advantage 2.0″ bandwagon (also known as Agloco) with a force. John has the perfect readership of people who want more than anything to make money on the internet, so he has alrea…
[...] After I posted the update on AGLOCO last night, I was surprised to get a comment from one of the founders of AGLOCO late yesterday evening. Ray Everett-Church is the Chief Privacy Officer of the company and had something to say about the recent discussion of spyware between myself, John Chow and Carl Nelson that spanned between our three blogs. Carl was saying that while the bar that is the basis of the AGLOCO program is entirely voluntary, the software itself is in essense, spyware as it tracked our habits so the ads could be catered to our tastes. However, Ray had this to say in response: I couldn’t disagree more with the characterization of the Viewbar as spyware. In my experience, spyware has four main characteristics: 1) It’s installed without your permission; 2) It surreptitiously tracks you; 3) it is difficult if not impossible to turn off or remove; and, 4) it sends your information to an unknown and untrustworthy entity where you have no control over what happens to it. [...]