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IP: Anatomy of a Netscam?
From: Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1996 21:34:52 -0400
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 17:25:02 -0500 (CDT) From: Julie Mangin <jmangin () nal usda gov Subject: Anatomy of a Netscam? ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- "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: "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. 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." %*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%* Julie Mangin Depository Library No. 0092 Librarian Internet: jmangin () nal usda gov Acquisitions & Serials Branch, Room 002 USDA, National Agricultural Library Telephone: (301)504-6321 Beltsville MD 20705-2351
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- IP: Anatomy of a Netscam? Dave Farber (Jul 12)