Porn, browser history tracking and post title fiasco

Earlier today, domain news publication DNN.com published an article by Adam Strong, titled “NamePros.com Gets Outed In Browser History Sniffing Fiasco“.

Our first note: Camel Casing in titles – capitalizing the first letter of every word – is old school and very outdated. Emphasis should be achieved by constructing better titles instead. 😉

In the article, DNN discusses how popular domainer forum, NamePros.com is included in a report referred to by a ZDnet article, which examined the mechanisms of browser history sniffing.

The report included tests performed on web sites among the top 50,000 on the Internet, according to Alexa.com ratings. NamePros.com commands an Alexa ranking of 2,966 worldwide – a great feat. By comparison, DNJournal.com – the top domaining publication – has an Alexa ranking of 13,512 which means less traffic. Both numbers are 3-month averages.

While the DNN.com article title talks about NamePros being “outed”, the article discusses YouPorn and a pending lawsuit related to privacy concerns. Thus, immediately after clicking on the headline, readers expecting to read about NamePros and its alleged “outing” are presented with references to lawsuits and porn, unrelated to NamePros.

DNN fails to mention that the University of California study report, in which NamePros.com is included, actually explains the type of activity that those web sites listed engaged into. On page 9 of the PDF file of the study, NamePros is listed with an older Alexa ranking of 3508 and the indicator “F” under the Source column.

According to the  report conducted by students of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of California, in San Diego, the “F” mark means NamePros.com is using javascript tracker code generated by the web site Feedjit.com – a free tracker and traffic analysis web site with 500,000 active participants – of which NamePros.com is the #2 destination after Feedjit.com itself.

Unlike YouPorn that is under scrutiny for actually sniffing visitors’ browsing history with code local to their web site, NamePros is using a traffic analyzer akin to Google Analytics. Simply put, there is no malicious code on the NamePros.com web site, as the article seems to imply.

In the DNN article, Adam Strong prequels the NamePros reference with yet another reference to YouPorn and the pending lawsuit, as follows:

The plaintiffs in the case claim YouPorn is violating the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act as well as California computer laws as well as deceptive and unfair business practices and competition.  DNN is not sure what NamePros.com was involved in or wether it was similar activity to what YouPorn.com is now being sued over. We suspect that NamePros was using scripts from an ad network and was caught up in what looks like a privacy-witch-hunt.

Ron James, the well-known NamePros domainer that operates the forum responded to the DNN article, disclaiming any use of a mechanism to intentionally track or disrupt the browsing habits of the NamePros.com users:

I understand the need to boost ratings, but your “NamePros Gets Outted” headline smacks of overly-sensational journalism. […]

[…] Feedjit is a traffic stats program we have been using as an alternative to Google Analytics. I have never gotten any kind of access to a user’s browsing history through this service or any others. The stats are in real time, but are otherwise fairly usual. […]

[…] Is our choice of stats program is really that newsworthy? If so, I look forward to being “outted” on my choice of domain registrar or what hosting company we use for our servers. […]

While privacy matters are of extreme importance, accuracy of information and release of the details that make a difference is necessary, when tagging a popular destination for domainers as being “outed”. At the same time, simultaneous reference to pornography and lawsuits might generate more pageviews but it’s factually unrelated to the reason of including NamePros.com in the University study and report.

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