It seems that Zango, formerly known as 180solutions, the company we all love to hate, has royally ticked off a bunch of adult webmasters. Paperghost, aka Chris Boyd, has the story, complete with links to forums where the adult webmasters discuss Zango allegedly stealing affiliate commissions. True? I don’t know, but considering some of Zango/180solutions’ past questionable business practices, nothing would surprise me. Interestingly enough, Zango’s blog has a very recent post about cookies, claiming that “Zango does not read, alter, modify or delete Web site or cookie content.” and stating “Zango… do[es] not alter, manipulate, or delete third-party affiliate referral tracking information.”

In Boyd’s comments, Dave Methvin of PCPitstop, explains what happens when affiliate cookies are overwritten and links to an article by Ben Edelman on “cookie stuffing”

Just over two weeks ago, the FTC announced a proposed settlement with Zango for the complaint filed earlier this year. Under terms of the settlement, Zango is required to give up $3 million in ill-gotten gains and to stop a number of bad practices that have been documented back to 2002. As usual Zango claims innocence, and on November 3 stated on their blog:

Zango has met or exceeded the key notice and consent standards detailed in the FTC consent order since at least January 1, 2006.

If you wish to you can Click Here and read the Complaint that was filed against Zango

It would appear from all the evidence presented at those links that Zango may still be up to their old tricks and everyone should use caution.

And if you like you can Click Here and read a wide variety of threads at Netpond about Zango and related subjects.

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