One month ago, after careful internal discussion, we made a decision to update to the GPWA Code of Conduct. The update was made because we wanted the Code of Conduct to be a more effective tool in combating the criminal activities of the hacker.
All GPWA sponsor programs were notified of the update a month ago, and the new provisions are now in full effect.
Paragraph 2 of the GPWA Code of Conduct, which covers responsible promotion and procedures, now includes the following statement:
This new statement replaces the previously weaker statement that read "Sponsor Companies will not use unethical methods of promotion either directly or indirectly through others."Sponsor Companies will not use unethical methods of promotion either directly or indirectly through others and will cooperate with the GPWA in accordance with its policies and procedures to ensure affiliates and other third parties do not financially benefit from unethical behavior.
The revised GPWA Code of Conduct allows us to have policies and procedures to combat the criminal activities of the hacker, and to be able to find a Sponsor Program in violation of the Code of Conduct if they do not cooperate with us in accordance with those policies and procedures. None of us want the hacker to benefit financially from criminal activities, and we all want the backing of every GPWA sponsor program on that front.
Let me lay out the new policies and procedures we plan to follow going forward.
First, when it is discovered that the hacker is using an affiliate link in an attempt to generate revenue from a GPWA Sponsor Program, we all know that redirecting the link so that neither the affiliate nor the sponsor program benefits is the strongest possible course of action, and we recommend that approach.
A good alternative is for a sponsor program to interact with the hacker in such a way that the hacker's affiliate account is closed, and that it is clear to everyone that the account is closed because the hacker has responded by removing the affiliate links from the hacker's sites.
However, when a program states that accounts are closed, but affiliate links from hacker remain in place, the concept of "trust but verify" leaves everyone in an uncomfortable place. So our new policy is pretty simple. If the links are not redirected, and if the links remain in place, then the GPWA must be given control over any such affiliate accounts. We will closely monitor any accounts turned over to us, publicly report what we see, and if they generate any revenue we will either donate the revenue to charity or use it to reward and fund efforts to stop activities such as those of the hacker.
Michael