JRF
Aug 19, 00, 2:00 am
http://www.cnn.co.uk/2000/TECH/computing/08/18/freewebstuff.folds.idg/index.html
.....Automated Surfers Cash In
"We assumed people wouldn't cheat us," Johnson says, admitting that in retrospect this was naive. Company officials soon learned that crafty computer users were finding ways to register hundreds of accounts, and the majority of the site's new "users" were fraudulent.
Because the site wasn't set up to verify people's registration until they tried to claim their earnings, it was nearly impossible to stop the flow. The small company, with just five technical support people on staff, even hired several of the persons accused of hacking the site in an effort to stop it--to no avail.
On July 10 the company suspended operations.
Now FreeWebStuff.com is seeking to partner with a security company that can assist with its registration problems. Alternatively, it may sell out to another pay-to-surf site, Johnson says. He would prefer to relaunch the site now that the company has a bit more experience.
"We had no idea how large the cheater problem was," he says. The hackers communicated with each other and even set up Web sites explaining how to cheat the site, he says. Johnson estimated only 9500 actual users produced the 65,000 registrations. During its last week of operation the company paid out nearly $315,000. ........
.....Automated Surfers Cash In
"We assumed people wouldn't cheat us," Johnson says, admitting that in retrospect this was naive. Company officials soon learned that crafty computer users were finding ways to register hundreds of accounts, and the majority of the site's new "users" were fraudulent.
Because the site wasn't set up to verify people's registration until they tried to claim their earnings, it was nearly impossible to stop the flow. The small company, with just five technical support people on staff, even hired several of the persons accused of hacking the site in an effort to stop it--to no avail.
On July 10 the company suspended operations.
Now FreeWebStuff.com is seeking to partner with a security company that can assist with its registration problems. Alternatively, it may sell out to another pay-to-surf site, Johnson says. He would prefer to relaunch the site now that the company has a bit more experience.
"We had no idea how large the cheater problem was," he says. The hackers communicated with each other and even set up Web sites explaining how to cheat the site, he says. Johnson estimated only 9500 actual users produced the 65,000 registrations. During its last week of operation the company paid out nearly $315,000. ........