Ever have one of “those” days? A lot of people (Including the New York Times Co. CEO, Diane Sawyer of ABC News, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel) are waking up to discover that their iPad data was compromised.
Yup, a Gawker Article this morning is reporting that AT&T has made a mistake and up to 114000 “early adopter” iPad users data (and possibly EVERY iPad 3G users data) has been compromised. This is big. And every time something like this happens, I cringe. Because somewhere, someone, who hasn’t a clue, is gonna blame Affiliate Marketers.
The Gawker article doesn’t do this. Although, they point out that email addresses could be used for spamming. But high profile issues like the AT&T iPad Security Breach somehow always brings out the people that have a vested interest in damaging our industry. I can almost hear them now. “Blackhat Affiliate Marketers are using this data to defraud people”, “Here we go, those Affiliate Marketers are gonna make a ton of money on this one”, and the like.
And yes, this damages our industry. And it damages you. I’ve been hearing rumblings (actually, outright calls for action) to regulate our industry. The people who are already defrauding consumers, networks, etc., with bogus offers, willfully damaging the very programs they participate in to make a few extra bucks, use spamming techniques, etc. are going to get our industry bogged down in red tape and government oversight.
Unless we change our ways as Performance Marketing Affiliates. I’ve always thought it odd that some Affiliates want the entire earth to see their sites except the Affiliate Managers of the programs they promote. Just as I think it’s strange thats some Affiliates believe that they should be accepted into every Network and Program without exception or condition.
And it’s just as odd that Networks put so little information about themselves out there with the notable exception of every offer they have is “High Paying” and has “Highly Converting” associated with it. The key to ridding ourselves of the frauds and exploitation scams that are being associated to us is to get transparent. Share information, share knowledge, share (privately when needed) nearly everything with each other. That way the fraudsters will be weeded out while the rest of us will have a clearer, more level, and less competitive playing field.
Just as it would have been much better if AT&T had discovered this problem first, contacted iPad owners first, and tackled it head on before Gawker disclosed it.
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