p2p news / p2pnet:- An alliance between “behavioral marketing & search” company Direct Revenue and Sharman Networks’ Kazaa, the p2p application which became infamous for its spyware and as the p2p application on the hard drives of many (most?) RIAA sue ‘em all victims, has been announced.

Anyone who OKs Kazaa and Direct Revenue will also have to promise to read “a small number of relevant advertisements per day” in return for which they’ll get Cydoor, PeerPoint Manager from DRM enthusiast Altnet, a Sharman partner, the Need2Find toolbar, Best Offers Instafinder from Direct Revenue, and a virtually unknown virus app called Bullguard.

That’s quite a bundle. And it’s interesting that just as new Direct Revenue ceo Jean Philippe Maheu tries to clean up the company’s seriously tarnished image, he also chooses to get into bed with Sharman which an Australian court decided must stop “authorising Kazaa users to breach copyright and that modifications be made to future technology to reduce copyright infringement,” as professor Ed Felten phrased it.

In August, Newsweek ran a Q&A with Maheu, and quoted by him in Direct Revenue media material. Among the questions and responses are:

Newsweek: Members of the anti-spyware community have been very critical of Direct Revenue. Is your relationship with them doomed to be an antagonistic?

Maheu: We are now defining a strategy to move forward and improve our practices. If the antispyware community can help us identify things that are happening that are not in compliance with what I want our practices to be, then I welcome their input. I think that Vitalsecurity.org is one example [of a blog that pointed out a problem with unapproved installations of Direct Revenue’s ad clients, and thereafter Direct Revenue fixed it]. Beyond that, they have a role to play and we have a business to run. I welcome their informed, rational, factual input if and when they can provide it. [Note: Vitalsecurity’s Chris Boyd is now security research manager with FaceTime Communications.]

Newsweek: The company uses the name ‘ABetterInternet,’ among many others. What does Direct Revenue do to make the Internet a better place?

Maheu: The name came before I joined. We have too many names. I’m looking at the names and have made a decision to simplify and rationalize them. However, what is clear is that we allow users to access software and content for free in exchange for seeing a few ads per day.

Newsweek: How do you feel about some of the tactics the company has used in the past that people believed were abusive of Internet users?

Maheu: I read your [December] story. Since then I spoke to the founders, [and they claim] some statements were accurate; others, according to them, were not. I did not want to damage my reputation so I was not going to work with a company that was not going to improve their practices. The chance for me is to be part of the solution. It’s a very young industry, Direct Revenue is around three years-old - Claria has been around for five. In the past, there were no standards, no clear boundaries. We are now working with the NAI [Network Advertising Initiative] and the CDT [Center for Democracy and Technology] to define practices for the whole industry.”

Direct Revenue is associated with Soho Digital, run by ex-Cydoor business development specialist Ofer Drucker.

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See:-
Cydoor - The eXeem thread, January 24, 2005
Altnet - Altnet ‘extortion’ attempt, January 12, 2005
phrased it - Wilcox, Kazaa and mods, September 11, 2005
pointed out a problem - BitTorrent poisoned by Aurora, June 16, 2005

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