NamePros Privacy Concerns

[RJ]

Dear NamePros Members,

There is a story circulating on Domain Name News that tries to link us to YouPorn.com's current scandal.

http://www.domainnamenews.com/news/nameproscom-outed-browser-history-sniffing-fiasco/8482

I just wanted to post and let you know we do not track our user's browsing history. We do make use of a stats service called Feedjit Pro and have a Facebook Connect feature that can connect your NamePros account to your Facebook account. Both service have their own privacy protections as well.

If there are any legitimate concerns of privacy on NamePros including our use of Feedjit, that I will promptly address there here with you in this thread or privately by email. My email address is [namepros email redacted].

Our privacy policy is linked from every page of our site. It is located at
http://www.namepros.com/privacypolicy.php

Sincerely,

Ron James
NamePros.com

 

[DU]

What did you expect them to say? Do you really believe Feedjit would just admit doing something illegal especially when somebody else was just sued a week ago?

A computer science professors says they have developed special software to spot this kind history tracking activity which was not possible to see before. I would rather believe him then the other guy.

The namepros gang is on a mission to silence people. It is funny to watch you guys.

Why can't you believe both?
And what namepros gang?
And what silencing?

If the first question seems like a paradox then I suggest you read the comments AND the paper again.

 

[TestCase]

Interesting twist to all this is that :

1) The CEO of Feedjit responds to the original blog saying that they DO NOT do this.

2) The CEO of Feedjit says that the original paper in no way contacted them.

So what is the net result?

RJ has dropped Feedjit for no reason other than some stupid story on another forum based on a paper that I don't think followed ethical procedures and practices if the CEO of Feedjit is to be believed. A perfectly normal (I guess) business relationship ruined by:

1) DNN Posts a story to get attention. Research done: ZERO.

2) Namepros looks bad for a day or two and everyone jumps on the "privacy" bandwagon without any real attempts to understand or evaluate the gravity (or lack thereof) of the issue. Research done: ZERO

But then again...

While I don't believe there was any malicious activity by Feedjit, they have been completely unresponsive to my inquiries during this situation.

I removed their code from NamePros this past Saturday and canceled our account with them today. We will take our business elsewhere for stats.

Thanks for the input, everyone.

RJ

If I were using a product or service that suddenly finds itself getting bad press, which then in turn results in bad press for or reflects negatively my business, you better believe if the supplier/provider did not respond to MY personal inquiries in a timely manner with great answers, I'd be yanking them too!


Go RJ!

 

[DU]

But then again...


If I were using a product or service that suddenly finds itself getting bad press, which then in turn results in bad press for or reflects negatively my business, you better believe if the supplier/provider did not respond to MY personal inquiries in a timely manner with great answers, I'd be yanking them too!
Go RJ!

Let me restate to avoid being misunderstood:

RJ left feedjit for his reasons which I don't know. His actions were presumably what he felt were in the best interests of Namepros.

That said:

The events leading up to this were an example of the instant, knee-jerk, and nonsensical mob mentality that only the Internet is capable of
producing.

Better?

 

[mis_chiff]

The namepros gang is on a mission to silence people. It is funny to watch you guys.

What does this mean?? Who is the Namepros gang
and what are they silencing?

 

[Erdy]

The namepros gang is people who are trying to look nice to the management whatever the issue.

 

[Domagon]

While I don't believe there was any malicious activity by Feedjit, they have been completely unresponsive to my inquiries during this situation.

I removed their code from NamePros this past Saturday and canceled our account with them today. We will take our business elsewhere for stats.

Thanks for the input, everyone.

RJ

Good move. :tu:

Perception matters...

Case in point is another popular domain forum that's far less busy than it used to be, because, in some part, they stopped respecting their members; I rarely ever visit there anymore - when it comes to domaining, NamePros is the place

Ron

 

[mis_chiff]

The namepros gang is people who are trying to look nice to the management whatever the issue.

and who would that be Erdinc? and why is this even relevant?

 

[Erdy]

There are people here, including myself, expressing their concerns on an important issue however you can't even talk without getting personal attacks by others just because they want to look nice to the management.

I think some members would support any argument as long as they side with the group that looks stronger and has a few known characters.

The namepros management made a bad choice by using a questionable service for website statistics. Luckily nothing too bad happened. It could have been much worse. That's no big deal. These things can happen and the error was corrected.

Now there is no need for worshippers to come up with arguments to support namepros management as if they are supporting a God that never makes any mistakes. I don't feel like people who posted messages supportive to namepros and Feedjit, have even thought about the issue. They are just supportive for the sake of it however this doesn't make them look good. It makes them look much worse.

 

[Acroplex]

The service (feedjit) was deemed questionable by a single mass research paper that has no real data to back up the claim. The claim was already refuted by feedjit. For the sake of argument, feel free to believe or not believe either side, just like the WikiLeaks content is not validated. People will always believe a load of pseudo-data presented in a scientific manner. Welcome to the Internet.

 

[DU]

There are people here, including myself, expressing their concerns on an important issue however you can't even talk without getting personal attacks by others just because they want to look nice to the management.

Well that's not me then... I don't have a great history on that front

The namepros management made a bad choice by using a questionable service for website statistics.

The same bad choice made a significant number of other companies. Do you have any information that backs up why this is a bad choice, what harm has been done and why the service is questionable above and beyond an incendiary blog post and a paper that fails to answer significant questions such as duration of test, time span of test, repeatability of test over time. In addition has a complete failure to include any opportunity to refute, agree or admit to "violations".


Can you attest to the fact that you have fully read the privacy statement of both Feedjit and Google Analytics to do a full apples to apples comparison?

....removed some stuff coz Erdinc is a GOOD GUY....

Luckily nothing too bad happened. It could have been much worse. That's no big deal. These things can happen and the error was corrected.

What could have happened? The worse I can think of is that there was a potential for some phishing attacks by presenting you a fake Twitter login page.

I don't feel like people who posted messages supportive to namepros and Feedjit, have even thought about the issue. They are just supportive for the sake of it however this doesn't make them look good. It makes them look much worse.

You were the one that admitted you didn't even understand the method that the history was being "hijacked".

I think the arguments you present are more accurate when reversed. but I have again taken the thread off track but it IS AN IMPORTANT issue.

Reputations on the internet are frail. Lies are rife. Understanding issues and making decisions are important.

RJ removed Feedjit. That's the story. I just think it was knee-jerk and unneccessary and shows how potentially damaging comments can be.

 

[Acroplex]

I'd be more concerned about the half-story as presented by DNN than any real privacy issues. The article caused mass panic and unnecessary bias against NP.

 

[Jeff]

I'd be more concerned about the half-story as presented by DNN than any real privacy issues. The article caused mass panic and unnecessary bias against NP.

^ Good point. :gl:

The namepros gang is people who are trying to look nice to the management whatever the issue.

OMG, already ... and, yes, I too like the Holiday Eggnog™ (21+) ... but best to do these things in moderation (especially when posting in public) IMHO; and to whomever the "gang" is, please inform Wendy that her Christmas stockings are stinky! :santa:

Onward and upward, Happy Holidays! :imho:
Jeff

 

[Acroplex]

holy sh*t Jeff, 30k posts :D

 

[Jeff]

holy sh*t Jeff, 30k posts :D

H*ly sh*t! :santa: :notme:

Merry,
Jeff

 

[hollywood]

While I don't believe there was any malicious activity by Feedjit, they have been completely unresponsive to my inquiries during this situation.

I removed their code from NamePros this past Saturday and canceled our account with them today. We will take our business elsewhere for stats.

Thanks for the input, everyone.

RJ

Unbelievable. Today is December 26, 2010 and I am compelled to make this post because the following feedjit code is on the namepros homepage source code as of today:

  <script type="text/javascript">
var FJHost = ((document.location.protocol == 'https:') ? 
 "https://ssllog." : "http://log.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + FJHost + 
 "feedjit.com/pg/fj/8cad0c57a67e73cb/'" + 
 " type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script> <script type="text/javascript">
try { var FJ = FJNew(); FJ.logHit(); } catch(err) {}
</script>

Given the past privacy issues I have had with NP, and now this..wow.

Would you care to explain? I think the NP community deserves it.

No, I didn't want to post this. When I looked this morning I wanted to see no sign of feedjit, per your words two weeks ago and quoted above.

 

[thefreshtwist]

money is power, and stats are power....

money buys developers, developers can make anything....

just imagine the stuff that you dont know about... lol

 

[Corey]

Due to Privacy concerns I am switching Feedjit OFF on my sites.

Cheers
Corey