Kazaa Lite and Norton Internet Security Blocking Affiliate Links?

Your affiliate links are being blocked by Kazza Lite and Norton Internet Security and you don’t even know it. Kazaa Lite and Norton Internet Security Block Commission Junction, AdSense, AdWords and Many Other Links By Default!

Sad but true dear reader! If you are linking to affiliate programs thru Commission Junction, using Google’s AdSense or AdWords then you may find many of your links are blocked by Norton Firewall, kazaa Lite, AdBlocker software and parasite-ware. Overall the full extent of the blocking could come to ten percent of your visitors.

The link to the full list of domains blocked is below. Some of these posts seemed to be mostly conjecture so I contacted Commission Junction for comment and Eliazbeth Cholawsky, senior VP kindly clarified CJ’s own concerns.

Norton Internet Security 2004 Now Blocks AdSense, AdWords ads and Commission Junction

Norton firewall is by far now the largest problem affiliate marketers face. This is extremely popular software that can be had even at Walmart. By default Norton blocks AdSense ads in any web page you view, so you lose both the AdSense income from your pages and you lose advertising links this Norton using visitor might find your site through on others site’s. By default is the keyword here. On installation it comes with ad blocking on.

When links from Commission Junction and AdSense appear on a page on a Norton protected machine, the link text simply does not appear, leaving your visitor with no way to click the link to your site.

Worse yet Google still records an impression for your ad, reducing the click thru rate. Featured sites on MSN and Overture listings on Yahoo are also effected the same way.

Norton Internet Security Also Blocks by File Names

Although I have not seen any evidence of page names being blocked Norton products do block by directory names. Here a log excerpt sent to me from one of my newsletter subscribers at littlewoods.com

An extract from a norton util log reveals :
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Content Blocked:

Date Time: 09/02/2004 21:49:47

User: ***

Action: Blocked

Type: Ad

URL: http://www.littlewoods-online.com/lcc/rf.inf.RFServlet?pathinfo=browse/ECANav.html&version_type_id=3

Data: IMG src=”/images/promotions/475_thumb_image.jpg” (Reason: “/promotions/”)

So now we can add promotions to the list of directories that Norton blocks like ad, ads, advertise, sponsor and banner and any variations of those words. If you wonder just what Norton is doing on your machine open the Norton log file with Notepad and you will see entries like the one above.

If you have directories with these names you will need to change your directory structure.

Kazaa Lite and SuperTrick

First of all Kazaa Lite is not official Kazza. It is a hacked version of Kazaa that runs without the Kazaa adware. Every version of Kazaa Lite could potentially be a different hacked version, no one really knows for sure.

[snip] I just installed this program Kazaa Lite….. , which is an ad-free way of accessing the Kazaa
network and downloading mp3 files……. In the installation options, it gives you the choice of installing this utility alled “Supertrick” which they say helps stop pop-up ads on your computer………

WELL. It turns out that Supertrick does a whole lot more than blocking popups. It blocks all images served from sites like Linkshare, Commission Junction, and BeFree.

Beware of Immitators Named Kazza

Nasty applications masquerading as Kazaa under the name Kazza can contain hidden spyware programs and malware. If you must use Kazaa then at least download it from the most reputable site, kazza.com.

Just How Does Kazaa Lite, Super Trick and AdBlockers Block These Links

Your Hosts File

Your Windows install contains a file named HOSTS and it’s there to allow your PC to find virtual sites that you may run locally on a desktop based server, either for local script development prior to publishing on a intranet.

Adblocking software most often plunders this HOSTS file and adds domains that it wants to block. By adding a domain to this file any request for that domain will resolve to 127.0.0.1 [localhost] and your visitor will end up with a 404 error, redirected to their own computer and never know why.

If you want to view this file go to Start > Search > For Files and Folders > enter “hosts” and click “Search Now.” Right click the resulting HOSTS file and and select “open with” from the shortcut menu. Choose Notepad from the dialog box but be sure to uncheck “Always open with this” in the lower left hand corner.

But How Many People Will Really Use This Software?

About now you have to be asking yourself, “Self, just how many people are going to be using Norton and kazaa Lite?”

Norton Internet Security was the 2^nd best selling software for the week of Week of May 30 - June 5, 2004, according to the NPD Group, a company that tracks and reports retail software sales.

Who knows how many have downloaded kazaa but it has been in the top of the search queiries for years. The data was compiled from over 70 NPD channel partners, representing 90% of the USA consumer retail market.

Commission Junction Responds

I contacted Elizabeth Cholawsky directly, sr. vice president, marketing and product development at Commission Junction (CJ), to confirm and expand on these posts. Below is our transcribed converastion. This was taken from a phone conversation between myself (Chris Lang) and Elizabeth Chowalsky. All questions and answers are verbatim.

Chris

What led me to contact you for this interview started with a forum thread in Allan Gardyne’s newsletter stating that something in the neighborhood of 20% of CJ’s affiliate links are being blocked by kazaa Lite, and especially Norton Internet Security firewalls.

In a nutshell, is this true and is 20% overall a realistic number?

Elizabeth

A: Adblocking software is now available from a number of software vendors in the market and, in general, treats all adservers consistently. The real question becomes “What percentage of consumers have chosen to use these adblocking utilities?” We have not seen market numbers that would measure the extent of this behavior.

Chris

Q: So, 20% is inflammatory? Do you have real numbers you would care to share from CJ and it’s tracking of link performance?

Elizabeth

A: We continually monitor the performance of the links in our network and are currently looking into any issues that would have to do with Symantec specifically. We do not have any statistics that we can release.

Chris

More specifically then, your main concern is the default blocking of the domain that tracks and delivers CJ banners, qwkserv.net by Norton Internet Security firewall?

Elizabeth

A: Our primary concern is to assure that clients of Commission Junction are treated equally by any software vendor that chooses to develop and distribute adblocking software.

Chris

Q: Why would Norton / Symantec single CJ out over all other affiliate providers? You have to ask yourself “What did we ever do to Symantec?”

Elizabeth

A: Symantec is a professional software development company. We believe that the current issues have arisen out of lack of information rather than maliciousness.

Chris

What possible resolutions are in the works with Symantec to end this problem?

Our first objective is to make sure that there is an equal playing field for all adserving companies, including Commission Junction. Next, we would like to help educate Symantec on the intricacies of online advertising and consumer requirements.

Chris

What kind of time frame are we talking here?

Elizabeth

A: We are in active discussions with Symantec and are working towards a speedy resolution. I expect a timeframe
of weeks rather than months.

Chris

Q: How about other firewalls like Zone Alarm or kazaa Lite, currently ranked 23,841 by Alexa
and a top 10 download? How much affect is SuperTrick having on CJ affiliate links?

Elizabeth

A: As previously mentioned, our main objective is to assure that Commission Junction is treated the same as
any other vendor that serves ads online. At this time, the only verified occurrence of unequal treatment
of Commission Junction is with the Symantec Firewall products.

Chris

Q: We have heard rumors of a random sub-domains that would resolve to qwlserv.net and would be unblockable. Is this a reality and would it really work? Not to mention a million affiliates having to change their embedded affiliate links?

Elizabeth

A: We are continually evaluating technology to assure that our clients experience the highest performance
that they can in the Commission Junction network. We have evaluated the use of random sub-domains,
but currently have no plans to deploy a technological response to adblocking techniques.

Chris

Elizabeth, thank you for your time and your frank answers.

The Bottom Line

Well, I really wanted to end this article with a silver bullet but it looks like there’s none in sight. CJ is working to alleviate the problem starting with Symantec. Obviously it is to their own advantage to resolve this quickly as CJ is in business to make a profit just like we are.

The only way to substantiate the supposed 20% adblocking rate is through our own testing and tracking If you are using qwkserv.net links to CJ affiliate merchants then I suggest placing a redirect link in between your site and the qwkserv.net domain and comparing your redirect page hits to CJ affiliate stats. CJ does generate some great reports including gross visitor numbers. Compare the two to see how many links may be blocked.

The only real resolution to adblocking software and rogue applications like Supertrick lies in educating
internet users. Many of you reading this have high traffic sites and huge subscriber lists. It will benefit us
all if we get the word out and expand on what has started in the forums. Explain to your visitors and lists
that inadvertently the links that they want to follow are disabled due to firewalls and junk like Supertrick.

-Chris Lang

Here’s the original thread I picked up from .
Alan Gardyne’s newsletter…

User suggested list of IP ranges blocked by Norton, Zone Alarm and kazaa Lite, including www.cj.com and www.qkserv.net, the ad severs used for Commission Junction.
How kazaa Lite blocks IPs and Domains

Security resources - directory of Security related websites.

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