Affiliates:

There has been much conversation as of late regarding the issue of 'Predator Advertisers', 'ScumWare', 'Ad Pirates' and so forth. We feel the need to share our opinion, as this matter it directly interferes with our business as well as the overall industry.

First and foremost, it's Affiliate Fuel's firm policy that we will never be in relationships or associated with any companies that are detrimental to our affiliates. We believe that your content is fully owned by you, as are the relationships with your advertisers. The only one who has rights to change your intellectual property is you. Period.

If any company benefits from hijacking content or advertising from other sites, they are watching out for themselves only. In the short term, they have everything to gain while everyone else loses. We believe in the theory of the 'greatest good' and operate from that viewpoint. No company can survive over the long haul without providing a fair exchange to those it relies on to conduct business. We believe that companies which benefit from hijacking content are not 'in exchange' with the very publishers they rely on to supply the content and traffic for their advertisers. Therefore, we feel it is both an illogical and unethical basis from which to conduct business.

This issue has raised questions regarding many fundamental legal, business and ethical principles, which are currently being evaluated. We believe that these will be resolved in the light of common sense. We are confident that in the end, independent publishers will prevail as we feel the issue of 'ScumWare' is a classic case of technology developing faster than the law.

Matt Simpson
Managing Partner
V. 310.822.4447
matt@affiliatefuel.com

Paul Grossman
Managing Partner
V. 310.822.4447
paul@affiliatefuel.com