Sponsors and Our Privacy

[Altheon]

I was signing up for some sponsor programs last night and realized that the form is not sent via SSL. This freaked me out since some pretty sensitive info is sent stuff like: name, address, Social Security Number, Bank account #'s, etc... This seem really crazy to send such personal info with out some layer of protection.

Here is a scenario for you: You sign up by sending all your personal info plus your log-in name and password over an insecure connection. This info gets intercepted then the person waits till you make some sales. After you have a good chunk of change in your account they log-in as you, change the payee name and address and have the check sent to them. Besides how often do you log-in and see if your account info is still accurate. Better yet, when you change an item like e-mail, physical address etc...,do you get notified? My guess is that you do not. Of course you can only get hit once before you notice the theft took place but how much is your check? I bet it's not the minimum payout amount.

I see this as a scandal waiting to happen. How bad will the fallout be when a sponsor does have an incident like this one. Figure the odds of anyone trusting them again.

Hey let me know if I'm off base here but I ask that you take a look at the sponsors you are using now. Go back to that sign-up page and see if it is using SSL. Then ask yourself, if this were a brick and mortar business would you conduct this sort of transaction in a crowded room full of people? If this were Citibank would you send this info to them via an insecure connection. If you don't trust these sponsors as much as you trust your bank why would you give them the same information but in a more insecure manner?

-Altheon

[Bill]

You are not the first person to worry about this.

I keep waiting for the first identity theft case traced back to a sponsor or sponsor carelessness.

And I tend to be less ready to sign up for little sponsors for fear of my info being used for identity theft.

[Cleo]

I've also worried about this and even have not joined a sponsor when I got a bad feeling about giving them my personal info.

I run everything through my cooperation so I don't have to give out my SS number so I guess this does give me some protection against having my identity stolen.

[Opti]

I changed address with all my sponsors a year or so back and noticed that most did send an email alert that the info had been changed. Maybe not all, but definitely most of them.

[Altheon]

I posted this on another board and it got a less than luke-warm response. This really surprises me since SSL is implemented on most main stream affiliate programs. For about $350 a year these sponsors can protect the privacy of every single affiliate in their program but yet they choose not to implement it.

I feel that this is something that we as affiliates will have to collectively push for or else it will never happen. I do feel better knowing that I am not the only one conserned about this and hope that more of our fellow webmasters will take the time to consider the implications.

-A

[finnbear]

I had to change my e-mail in all sponsors I use sometime ago. Most of them e-mailed, some needed even confirmation. Only a small bunch of sponsors just change my e-mail without any action.