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Gator Files for IPO to Raise $150 Million
michalas writes "Wired reports on the IPO filing of adware/spyware kings Claria who have recently changed their name from Gator.
Claria on Thursday filed for an initial public offering to raise $150 million to continue developing its 'behavioral marketing platform.' Claria had a net income of $35 million on revenues of $90 million in 2003. In addition, Claria said it has 43 million active users and 425 advertisers."
They are now Claria, that is so much less predatory than Gator. They were just misunderstood.
" 43 million active users " Those are not users, they are called "victims"
In addition, Claria said it has 43 million active users and 425 advertisers.
I think 'infected computers' would be more likely. Whenever I tell people I can make those pop-ups stop by running Ad-aware, they are more than happy to remove themselves from this list of 'active users.'
Claria said it has 43 million active users
...of those 43 million "active users" only three are actually aware that they are running Claria's "product".
Of which 7 know they are.
The good thing about Gator going public is that their Financial Statements will tell us what advertisers are funding them. Makes for a nice boycott list.
Does anyone know where to get a list of the 425 advertisers, so I know which companies to avoid?
Also, Claria said their certificates represent "the latest in investor-tracking technology." Claria's executives plan to use the small audio monitoring devices embedded in each certificate to learn valuable insider information about upcoming shifts in the stock market. "This represents a new direction in the stock market. Never before have companies used their stock certificates as a way to gather valuable investor information," said Claria's CEO in a press release today extolling the virtues of Claria's new business venture.
Addressing privacy concerns, he also mentioned that, "Anyone buying this stock knows exactly what they're getting into. We fully disclose all information about our monitoring technologies to anyone who bothers to break into our company's vault and read the encrypted data therein. Anyone who claims they were misled about privacy simply hasn't done the proper espionage expected of both parties entering into any contract. After all, if you don't catch us spying on you, it's your fault."
That's it. I'm no longer part of Team Sanity.
Sure they ask... You do read all the text in every little box that pops up, don't ya?
...And people wonder why email viruses / worms still prosper.
The sad fact is that most people don't read _any_ text in any box that pops up on the screen. They just zero in on the "yes" "no" "cancel" boxes and randomly pick whichever one they think will make the pop-up go away the quickest.
I mean, they were _trying to read_ something. They can't be bothered to change their train of thought and deal with this new mumbo-jumbo that just appeared on their screen.
T
That would be like Hepatitis C Inc., boasting about their 500 million customers. This reminds me of Mel Brook's radio skit about the LMNOP Advertising Agency: "We just got the Cholesterol account. We're trying to move Cholesterol into the American heart. It's going to be tough, but we'll win. Advertising is a lot stronger than life."
Man, someone needs to go Steve Irwin on that gator's ass...
You can't take the sky from me...
Claria take their name from Chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted infection that many people do not know they carry. Someone in the advertising/PR department must have had a bit of fun with that one ;)
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Partial list of advertisers, courtesy of Harvard
News story on Harvard wrestling with the then Gator corp
Your post reminds me of a trust certificate that came up on my screen today.
"Always trust content from 'Click Yes To Enter LTD'?"
And in the blurb:
"By clicking yes you agree to have software installed on your computer that will dial up a premium rate phone line at a cost of 1.50 GBP a minute. You can disconnect by clicking on the Disconnect button or the connection will automatically disconnect after 13.33 minutes."
Oh yeah and the source of this was a popup for some flash game site that said 'When the certificate pops up click yes to be able to play our huge selection of games! It came up when I was on www.cooking.com looking for a recipe for good roast potatoes. Obviously I prevented myself from downloading this crapware, but I still won't be visiting that site again.
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
I think you should be very wary of buying their stock, and if you do, read the small print on the stock purchase agreement. It may be that by buying their stock and installing it into your 401k, you agree to allow them to make modifications to your 401k, withdraw money from time to time, and present you with personalized advertising every time you use your ATM card...
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I work at a computer help desk at a college campus. Off the top of my head, removing spyware/adware is 75% of my day's work. To put it bluntly, most of these "active users" aren't "active" in any sense of the word. What they are is "unwitting." Nine times out of ten, if I show a student what I find on their system, they haven't a damn clue how it got there, or that it was even there in the first place.
That's the problem when you have spy-/ad-ware masquerading as legitimate software being offered third-party to a nearly computer illiterate culture. Let's face it, the majority of the people who own computers don't upkeep them like they should, and so Gator and their ilk can claim members. If the general populace knew enough to do basic maintenance, it would slash these farcical "active user" numbers, not to mention make my job easier.