Cheaters Threaten GPTS

I have been discussing the issue of cheaters with the representatives of multiple companies with whom I have direct contact. Many users seem to think it is a minor, isolated problem in the GPTS (Get Paid to Surf), or AdStream industry. Cheating is, in fact, a major problem for all of us.

We have already witnessed a drop in earnings for one company that was admittedly caused by cheaters who used emulator programs. Other companies are seeing similar abuse and if not stopped the failure of other companies is imminent.

So, what is the problem?

The problem is cheaters and the software developed to assist them in accumulating surfing time (earnings). People whose accounts are terminated for cheating tend to voice their concerns very publicly - this affects the images of ALL the companies - not just one. I have spoken with representatives of a few companies who have had to deal with DoS (Denial of Service) attacks on their servers by disgruntled users. (One company had to MOVE their servers physically in order to combat these attacks.)

Why aren't the cheaters stopped or prosecuted?

Contrary to popular belief - these companies operate on very small margins of profit, (1%-2%) if any. Prosecuting the cheaters is an enormous task and financial burden. How do you prosecute THOUSANDS of people or the HUNDREDS of developers and distributors of the software and still afford to pay the members? One legal case alone could cost thousands of dollars-imagine a hundred cases, or a thousand-then what happens if they lose? Remember the U.S. Court system, while generally fair, doesn't guarantee that the good guy wins. Hypothetically, a company could easily spend $10,000-$50,000 a month in legal expenses. Who pays for this? We do! Whether the company’s pay rate is fixed or based on a percentage of revenue we pay in reduced earnings for our honest efforts. Or, they could just shut down and say forget it. In the end we pay.

Also, a few of the CEO's I have spoken with have expressed their frustration at the speed the hackers are able to combat their cheat detection. One recent ad bar release by a major GPTS company had a cheat program available within thirty minutes of the release of the upgrade!

The cheat program developers aren't focusing on keeping your bars active anymore either-but on emulators. These trick the servers into thinking you are running the bar, while no ADS are actually being served. And, they also simulate clicks-to the ad bar server-NOT to the advertiser.

Security of the companies’ servers is another major problem, as well as fighting DoS attacks constantly now.

Many of the problems are beginning to originate outside of the companies’ country of origin. It isn't as easy to fight an attack or cheater from China as it is to fight one from the USA.

Why can't the software and ad bars keep up?

Well, let’s see-a company may employ 2-3 programmers - who have to deal with a hundred hackers trying to thwart their efforts. You figure it out. ;-)

Why is it having such an effect on OUR honest earnings?

The average surfer surfs for 10-20 hours a month on an ad bar - the average cheater surfs 300-600 hours a month. If there are 10,000 average surfers accumulating 150,000 hours - there are 300 cheaters accumulating 150,000 hours as well. That's 50% of the total pool in a revenue-sharing company! Hence a 50% CUT in your earnings for your HONEST work!

What does this mean with a fixed-rate company?

Well, even AllAdvantage has yet to make a profit. Could this be a reason? It is probably one of them. It is also a reason they only pay for 25 hours of surfing and have yet to increase to the promised 40 hours. How many other fixed rate companies are suffering the blow here?

Why haven't the companies made this public?

Would you want your advertisers and investors to know you couldn't keep up with the hackers? I didn't think so. In fact, as a moderator in a forum, I have been asked by two companies to censor posts, yes to censor posts that include information such as the NAMES of the cheat programs their bars detect. (Note: I do not censor this.)

I have now seen the light. I had no idea of the magnitude of the problem until I dug a little deeper and asked up front questions. These are the ONLY things that can be done:

	ALL Honest members need to be aggressive in seeking the cheat sites and reporting them.
	We must maintain OUR integrity and surf and support the advertisers and ad bars.
	A coalition of the industry’s companies and members needs to be created to address this on a JOINT level. For instance, jointly developed anti-cheat software and initiatives (including legal initiatives).
	Educate all users of GPTS programs. We all should post why not to cheat on our websites and provide the reason why in our own words. This will have a much greater impact than repeating what the companies say.
	Provide links to the cheat cop site, the anti-cheat forum and the threads about cheating in the other forums. http://stop.at/nocheat http://www.delphi.com/nocheat
	Speak out that cheating is unethical and explain how it harms all of us.
	Post in forums you visit about exactly how serious this issue is.
	Add the following keywords to descriptions of your Honest web site:

				“don't cheat use emulators fakesurf or try to earn while you sleep”
	If we All do this it will load up the search engines with good sites for the "cheat" key words and the cheat sites will be harder to find. Plus, the potential cheaters will find Your article about cheating and links to other sites and forums about the repercussions of cheating. http://stop.at/nocheat http:www.delphi.com/nocheat

When you report a site you should include the following information if possible:

	A screenshot of the webpage
	The Web address (URL)
	Source code (if possible)
	The IRC Chat log, if it is in a chat
	Search engine query used to find the site
	The search engine with which you found it
	The Web address (URL) of ANY top 50 cheat lists (or the name they use to honor themselves)
		Send the information to: abuse@(company name).com (or .net)

We will all benefit if we join together to fight cheating and spend ten (10) of our precious surfing minutes a day searching and reporting cheat sites.

Rick Hill
RefMaker.com
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