eHarmony, Perfect Match, and True.com Using Adware Programs

(Online Dating Industry Journal) According to a report from the Center for Democracy and Technology, online dating services eHarmony, Perfect Match, and True.com are, possibly unknowingly, participating in invasive adware advertising programs.  According to a new CDT report, all three companies have participated in the adware advertising program of a company called 180Solutions.  It is important to note that, because of the nature of online advertising, the companies may not have been aware of their direct advertising through 180Solutions. 

When approached by the CDT regarding adware policies and practices, True and Perfect Match did not respond to their inquiries, but eHarmony issued a statement to the CDT.  According to the report:

"Online dating site eHarmony was one company that responded to CDT about their advertising policy. The company explained that it requires all other parties whom they advertise with to adhere to the standard conditions of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Unfortunately, the IAB does not have its own guidelines for dealing with nuisance or harmful adware advertising. Instead, the IAB Standard Terms and Conditions document (which the IAB encourages its adherents to use) suggests that advertisers need to include terms in their affiliate agreements to address where and how their ads get placed. Thus, while eHarmony relies on IAB standards, the IAB seems to put the onus back on eHarmony to stipulate adware advertising policies. To CDT’s knowledge, eHarmony has not taken this step."

Kim's Comments:
If these companies truly did not realize that their advertisements were popping up as adware, hopefully the CTD has made small steps into informing them of the potential unknown advertiser network that can put an ad directly in the hands of adware advertisers.  Large companies like eHarmony should be able to afford reliable advertising and all should make stronger policies on understanding when and where their ads will show up.  After all, the only thing that adware does is annoy users, something every company wants to avoid.

Comments

[Markus]

That is complete and total bs, I've warned them several times to stop displaying popups when users visit my site with spyware installed, or i would ban them from advertising via adsense or affiliate programs.

True.com is the current worst offender, followed by perfectmatch. I figured eharmony would have learned after the FCC gave them a slap a few years ago.

Along side advertising on spyware/adware they popup millions of popups on free hosting services like netzero. They are even listed as "big advertisers"

http://www.unitedonline.net/advertisers/media_kit/mk_advlist.html

[Joe Tracy]

This whole process is becoming extremely annoying. Markus, with PlentyOfFish you at least have a good reason to advertise. And the fact that you are "protecting" your users by banning the URL of offending services in your Adsense campaigns says something really good about your ethics when it comes to a commitment to users.

Its already bad enough that many online dating services charge $49+ a month. But then for that user to still be bombarded with popups and possible adware programs really shows how low some of these services are sinking. They do more and more to turn people off to them and then wonder why there is a "flat growth rate" within the industry.

[Sandy]

I have been using online dating for a few years. My friend turned me on to them and we both have had a lot of fun. I have been on both Plenty of Fish and Ezdate123... I like both sites....Neither has pop ups and I have fun with both...Sandy