If you block the outgoing request to the server by a firewall, or divert
the request to another server via dns change, or proxy, then the final
[doubleclick] server won't receive that http request. The information is
sent as a request for the banner image on the page. If you click on the
supplied banner you are refered to the doubleclick server to confirm the
impact of your clicking, so they count from the first instance 1 page
impression, and from the link 1 click-thru. Those stats are passed onto
media buyers [advertising agencies] so that they can buy advertising
space in page impressions, and when keyword instances are bought from
the media controllers [doubleclick] the search information is used to
make sure the correct advert is sent back [IE 'Cars' returns adverts
bought by media owners who want their adverts to appear specically on
that subject]
The relevant html [for my browser] is
<layer
src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adl/altavista.digital.com/result_front;kw=car+parts;cat=stext;ord=10149552"
visibility=hidden id=a1 width=468
onload="moveToAbsolute(ad1.pageX,ad1.pageY);
a1.clip.height=83;visibility='show';"></layer>
<layer
src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adl/altavista.digital.com/result_front;kw=car+parts;cat=stext;ord=10149552"
visibility=hidden id=a2 width=590
onload="moveToAbsolute(ad2.pageX,ad2.pageY);
a2.clip.height=83;visibility='show';"></layer>
<LAYER
SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adl/tile.av.com/;sz=130x34;kw=car%20parts;cat=stext;tile=1;ord=10149552"
width=130 height=95 visibility=hide
OnLoad="moveToAbsolute(ph1.pageX,ph1.pageY);clip.height=95;clip.width=130;
visibility='show';"></LAYER>
<LAYER
SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adl/tile2.av.com/;sz=130x34;kw=car%20parts;cat=stext;tile=2;ord=10149552"
width=120 height=80 visibility=hide
OnLoad="moveToAbsolute(ph2.pageX,ph2.pageY);clip.height=80;clip.width=130;
visibility='show';"></LAYER>
[I assume that the code for the altavista page this is taken from is
generated from a browser detection script, and htat older browsers have
the info in older HTML formats]
if you block outgoing requests from your client machine to
doubleclick.net this information never reaches there, and you are safe.
Most media buyers want to know how many people clicked on a banner
advert for a campaign, which is used to anticipate the access of the
campaign. It is done like this to get accurate banner stats for the
media owners, media controllers which are seperate from the advertisers.
One way to really screw up this numbering system is to send the requests
through, but not allow the requests back. If you are using a proxy you
could re-write those requests with out any subject string in. If you are
using an out-going proxy your could strip cookie: headers from the html
requests, or fake the referer: header as well [thus screwing
doubleclicks logs analysis]. Y
ou can also do a clever trick with a suitable hack to proxy software
where it rewrites or strips 'Location' headers returned from the
doubleclick server on clickthrough : the impact being that when people
clicked on the banner doubleclick would log the clickthrough [showing a
response to the banner] but the customer would never see the page
impression on their server. If enough people did this it would undemine
doubleclick as it would look like they were faking figures:).
Combinations of all this is basically what any software that strips
banner adverts out do [or a number of ways beyond this, like looking for
standard banner sizes and a load of other stuff]
You can also hammer these url on doubleclick with a number of nasty
tools to affect peoples campaign statistics, but this gets into the
realm of doing what we're trying to stop as reasonable people.
The simple solution is : http://www.google.com [which doesn't, as yet,
have any adverts on it, and is faster!]
Hope this helps
d.
"Steve Riley (MCS)" wrote:
>
> I've been doing the same thing, and obviously it does prevent most of the ad
> graphics from downloading. But does it also stop the profiling from
> happening?
>
> If the browser itself sends the URL to Doubleclick, then this solution would
> seem to work. But if the web server you're going to sends the URL instead,
> this this won't work. Chris (Brenton), would verify which of the above
> actually happens?
>
> ___________________________________________________________
> Steve Riley
> Microsoft Telecommunications Consulting in Denver, Colorado
> e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> call/page: +1 303 521-4129 (cellular)
> SMS: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (100 characters)
> For MS Internet info see http://www.microsoft.com/isn/
> Applying computer technology is simply finding the right wrench to pound in
> the correct screw.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 7:06 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: How much info are you leaking?
>
> Jeff Bachtel wrote:
> >
> > The idea of a sort of ORBS is interesting (and may have merit). If,
> > for instance, ads.doubleclick.net.relays.worbs.net returns a valid ip
> > (loopback), then have your proxy server transparently handle traffic
> > to that site. However, and automated ORBS would be fairly difficult to
> > implement, as verification of information relaying is not as easy as
> > it is for open relays of email.
>
> I have ads.doubleclick.net (and many other similar sites) in my host file
> as 127.0.0.1. Not only does it keep my computer from giving them free
> information, it also seems to make alta vista searches much faster since
> it doesn't have to wait for responses from doubleclick.net.
>
> Eric Johnson
> -
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Dorian Moore is property of Kleber Design Ltd. If found please contact Kleber
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You really shouldn't listen to anything he says... as it may just be an opinion
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