Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
www.gothamcityresearch.com
info@gothamcityresearch.com
Blucora (i.e. Infospace): Worse Than Blinkx plc & Babylon Ltd
Google's first step is easy: Fire InfoSpace (a.k.a. Blucora). Google doesn't need InfoSpace, and there's
zero reason for this relationship to continue in light of InfoSpace's repeated failings.
Harvard Business School Professor Benjamin Edelman, author of The Darker Side of Blinkx, and the
Doogie Howser of online investigative work according to former federal prosecutor Richard Boscovich.
Dogpile.com and Webcrawler.com
???
candydoll tv, candydoll.tv, & vladmodels are terms tied to child pornography
???
???
Disclaimer:
By reading this report, you agree that use of GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLCs research is at your own risk.
In no event will you hold GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLC or any affiliated party liable for any direct or
indirect trading losses caused by any information in this report. This report is not investment advice or a
recommendation or solicitation to buy any securities. GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLC is not registered as
an investment advisor in any jurisdiction. Gotham City Research LLC is not affiliated or associated with
Gotham Asset Management, LLC or any of its affiliates.
You agree to do your own research and due diligence before making any investment decision with
respect to securities covered herein. You represent to GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLC that you have
sufficient investment sophistication to critically assess the information, analysis and opinions in this
report. You further agree that you will not communicate the contents of this report to any other person
unless that person has agreed to be bound by these same terms of service.
You should assume that as of the publication date of this report, GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLC stands to
profit in the event the issuers stock declines. We may buy, sell, cover or otherwise change the form or
substance of its position in the issuer. GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLC disclaims any obligation to notify
the market of any such changes.
Our research and report includes forward-looking statements, estimates, projections, and opinions
prepared with respect to, among other things, certain accounting, legal, and regulatory issues the issuer
faces and the potential impact of those issues on its future business, financial condition and results of
operations, as well as more generally, the issuers anticipated operating performance, access to capital
markets, market conditions, assets and liabilities. Such statements, estimates, projections and opinions
may prove to be substantially inaccurate and are inherently subject to significant risks and uncertainties
beyond GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLCs control.
Our research and report expresses our opinions, which we have based upon generally available
information, field research, inferences and deductions through our due diligence and analytical
process. GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLC believes all information contained herein is accurate and
reliable, and has been obtained from public sources we believe to be accurate and reliable.
However, such information is presented as is, without warranty of any kind, whether express or
implied. GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLC, makes no representation, express or implied, as to the accuracy,
timeliness, or completeness of any such information or with regard to the results to be obtained from its
use. All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice, and GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLC
is not obligated to update or supplement any reports or any of the information, analysis and opinion
contained in them.
You should assume that GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH LLC has and/or will file as a whistleblower with
relevant regulatory entities.
Page 2 of 67
Table of Contents
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
Disclaimer
Summary
Introduction
Blucora = Involuntary clicks + Artificial clicks + Illicit clicks
Blucoras History of Bad Behavior: The Iminent.com Problem
Google is Better off without Infospace/Blucora
Ties that Blind: Youre only as good as the company you keep
Non-GAAP is Back
Shares are Worth <$5.00 per share
Appendix A: Blucora and Malware
Appendix B: A Closer Look at Blucoras 2005-2010 Impropriety
End Notes
Page 3 of 67
SUMMARY OF FACTS
Company: Blucora
(formerly Infospace)
Ticker: BCOR (formerly
INSP)
Price Target: <$5.00
Share price: $23.70
Market cap: $976M
Enterprise value: $986M
52-week high: $30.12
52-week low: $14.25
Diluted shares
outstanding: 42.88M
Float: 38.80M
Avg. Daily Vol: 482K
% float short (1/31): 17%
TTM Revenue: $504M
TTM Net income: $29M
2013 YTD FCF: -$123M
Tangible book: -$45M
FYE: Dec. 31
Auditors: Deloitte &
Touche LLP,
Ernst and Young
Page 4 of 67
INTRODUCTION
Blucora, formerly known as Infospace, is one of the truly great historical case studies of the fraud and
excesses committed during the dot com boom of the late 1990s1. Former Merrill Lynch analyst, Henry
Blodget, privately referred to Infospace as a piece of junk, even as he publicly remained bullish its
stock. Blodget was indicted for securities fraud, and agreed to a permanent ban from the securities
industry (he also paid a $2 million fine plus a $2 million disgorgement).2
While Mr. Blodget appears to have subsequently turned around his life (as evidenced by his modestly
successful media outfit, Business Insider), it seems Blucora never learned its lessons. For example, we
discovered that nearly all infospace.com traffic is malware-related, and that BCORs search volumes
experienced a significant boosted in recent quarters, due to a rise in illicit search traffic (specifically child
pornography searches). We also captured a specific instance whereby infospace.com/imminent.com
generates clicks via cloaking (the practice of presenting different content or URLs to human users and
search engines). Cloaking is considered a violation of Googles Webmaster Guidelines because it
provides users with different results than they expected3.
Professor Ben Edelman has been recording and exposing Blucoras wrong-doing since 2005
We discovered that we were not alone in our findings. Harvard Business School Professor, Benjamin
Edelman, who recently exposed Blinkx plcs wrong-doing in a piece titled The Dark Side of Blinkx, had
already exposed Infospace.coms wrong-doing over many years.
In January 2010, for example, Edelman exposed Blucoras role in a complex ad fraud scheme (which
incidentally involved AdOn Network, a Blinkx subsidiary). At the time, Professor Edelman stated4:
Google doesn't need InfoSpace, and there's zero reason for this relationship to continue in light of
InfoSpace's repeated failings. Blucora seemed to show some remorse, as it discontinued the
syndication of our search results to certain distribution partners who we deemed to be delivering low
quality clicks.5 BCOR took a hit to revenue, and its share price suffered as well.
Worse than Blinkx Plc, as Blucora Continues its Wrong-doing
Gotham City Research believes that Blucora did not correct its behavior, after Edelman exposed the
companys wrong-doing in January 2010. If anything, we believe Blucora re-doubled its efforts (search
revenue has only risen since). We find that Blucora is worse than Blinkx for the following reasons:
2013LTM
$504
$399
85%
15%
In fact, BCORs most popular property, webcrawler.com, has somehow become the 460th most popular
website today (it was the ~7000th most popular website in the world just 2 years ago)3:
How Popular are BCOR's owned sites
relative to other sites? Alexa Traffic Ranks
2012
TODAY
BCOR Property
Webcrawler.com
7,000
460
Infospace.com
1,800
1,868
Dogpile.com
4,000
2,300
Metacrawler.com
30,000
3,200
Reasons for grave doubts and why BCORs performance does not pass the sniff test
The companys phenomenal performance makes little sense given:
Brand recognition for its properties is nearly non-existent (when is the last time you heard about
webcrawler.com, outside of this Gotham City Research report?). Metacrawler is defunct4.
Webcrawler.com ranks ahead of att.com, irs.gov, quora.com, retailmenot.com, elance.com,
abcnews.go.com, surveymonkey.com, even as webcrawler.com is a poor quality product5:
Blucoras peers (e.g. Babylon stock fell -60%) have been negatively impacted by recent Google
policy changes (Note Blucora derives 60+% of revenue from Google vs. 40% for Babylon)6:
Page 6 of 67
The Best Explanation: BCOR Uses Devious Practices to Artificially Boost Search Results
Gotham City Research believes most of Blucoras search revenue and traffic growth result from:
Involuntary clicks Intentionally deceive vulnerable users (e.g. the elderly), via malware, viruses.
Artificial clicks Boost fake/artificial traffic via click fraud (for example, hire cheap labor in India
and other developing countries to click on ads, all day).
Illicit clicks Attract users interested in child pornography, pirated materials, & similar.
In fact, we estimate at least 50% of traffic is involuntary, artificial, and/or of otherwise suspect origin 7:
Weight Suspect % of Total
BCOR PROPERTY Factor* Traffic** Traffic**
webcrawler.com
62.9%
33.0%
20.8%
Infospace.com
15.5%
94.8%
14.7%
metacrawler.com
12.6% 100.0%
12.6%
dogpile.com
9.0%
33.3%
3.0%
TOTAL SUSPECT TRAFFIC:
51.0%
In the next ~20 pages, we provide the facts and considerations that lead us to believe 50+% of search
traffic is suspect. See Appendix A for accompanying notes to the above table.
Step 2: Victims
complain, even as
BCOR reaps clicks and
revenue
Step 4: Blucora
abandons old scheme,
feigns remorse
Step 3: # of
complaints reach
critical mass & BCOR
commences R&D of
new schemes
Page 7 of 67
The artificially boosted search revenues (60+%of total revenues) will decline significantly in the
near future, eventually reaching de minimis levels, as Google and advertisers realize theyre
better off without Blucora (see Google is Better off without Infospace/Blucora)
Google, advertisers, the FTC, DOJ, FBI, IRS, and/or the company itself will validate our beliefs.
Blucoras malicious intent is evidenced by its many years of violating rules and regulations.
All of Blucoras main web properties are tied to malware, viruses, & browser hijackers that
attack computers. Infospace is described outright as a fraudulent web search engine.
3 of Blucoras Top 10 search words are child pornography-related terms, on dogpile.com.
Webcrawler aggressively purchased child porn search traffic in recent quarters.
Over 90% of webcrawlers top search terms are generic terms.
80% of webcrawler.coms visitors originate from outside North America.
Over 33% originate from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh.
Blucoras displayed ads in search results fail to comply with Googles guidelines, as described in
its 2011 amended agreement with Google.
Google prohibits advertising related to child pornography.
Even if Google/Blucora Renew their Agreement in March 2014, Google can walk away any time.
The Many Ties that Blind (see Ties that Blind: Youre only as good as the company you keep):
All the search-related violations mentioned in this report, and elsewhere, happened under the
current Chairman, CEO, CFO, and Infospace Presidents watch.
BCORs current and past business partners include WhenU.com, Blinkx, Intelius.com, Babylon,
info.com, and Iminent.com, i.e. a whos who of the worst malware/click fraud offenders.
Top five distribution partners generated approximately 25%-50% of total revenues, yet the
company refuses to disclose these distribution partners identities, on the record.
Blucora/Iminent.com cloaking behavior weve captured resembles Blucora and WhenU.coms
impropriety, as caught in 2010 by Harvard Business School Professor, Ben Edelman.
BCOR shareholders do not understand that BCOR has achieved high & steady revenue growth since
2010 by taking on greater and greater risks, which remain hidden until
A Turkey is fed for 1000 daysevery day confirms to its statistical dept. that the human race cares
about its welfare with increased statistical significance. On the 1001st day, the turkey has a surprise.8
Page 8 of 67
Infospace.com is associated with browser hijackers and rootkits such as Google Redirect Virus
and ZeroAccess rootkit
Browser hijackers and rootkits involve a tracking cookie which helps cybercriminals to change
search results on Google and other major search engines and redirect Internet users to
Infospace.com and other malicious advertisement websites.
Percent of Visitors
94.81%
2.12%
Ccs.infospace.com is http://www.keepbrowsersafe.com/remove-css-infospace-com-get-rid-ofcss-infospace-com-from-pc
1. It installs in the computer system without users permission or consent often with free
downloads.
2. It changes existing browser settings including provided search engines and home pages
causing it to redirect to related malicious websites.
3. As a tactic against innocent Internet users, it appears alike some legitimate search
engine like Google.com and persuade victims to use illegitimate search engine.
4. It often messes up with the privacy settings and exploits them to steal personal files or
information.
Nearly all google search results for Ccs.infospace.com result in some variation of how to
remove css.infospace.com virus guide.
Unsurprisingly, most victims (i.e., visitors) are middle-aged or elderly11
Page 9 of 67
Dogpile.com is referred to as a browser hijacker and a redirect virus 13. We believe BCOR
cleverly infects users by leading them to dogpile.com via searching (on google, ironically) for
search engines and related terms14:
Page 10 of 67
If Metacrawler.com were a legitimate website, it makes no sense that its website is off-line, and
it instead re-directs visitors to zoo.com (quite unpopular website vs. metacrawler)18:
Page 11 of 67
80% of webcrawler.coms visitors originate from outside North America, specifically over 33% of
visitors originate from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh. India is a wellknown hot spot for click fraud21.
metacrawler.com22
dogpile.com23
80-90% of traffic originates from outside the US, but only 1% of revenue originates outside the US24
Page 12 of 67
Signs [of click fraud] include large # of clicks coming from a single IP address or a block of
addresses.25
Did Blucora Move its Click Fraud Operations to India in 2010, just in case HBS Professor Ben Edelmans
January 2010 WhenU/Infospace Expos would put an end to all the Companys click fraud schemes?
$32.50
$30.00
$27.50
$25.00
$22.50
$20.00
$17.50
$15.00
$12.50
$10.00
$7.50
$5.00
$2.50
-40%
During the 1st half of 10, we discontinued the syndication of our search results to certain distribution partners who we deemed
to be delivering low quality clicks. Those discontinuations had a material negative impact on our revenues for the 1st half of 10.31
$0.00
Page 13 of 67
Something Occurred in 2010 in India that Helped BCOR Continue its Nefarious Schemes to Date
Step 1: Disseminate
Latest
Malware/Virus/Click
Fraud Scheme
Step 4: Blucora
abandons old scheme,
feigns remorse, takes a
fianncial hit
Step 2: Victims
complain, even as
BCOR reaps clicks and
revenue
Step 3: # of complaints
reach critical mass &
BCOR commences
R&D of new schemes
January 2010, The Cyber Sheriff Warns: Google's first step is easy: Fire BCOR. Google doesn't
need BCOR, and there's zero reason for this relationship to continue in light of InfoSpace's
repeated failings.32
April 2010, BCOR Explores New Scheme: BCOR announces it will sell Infospace India to Aditi:
Signed a definitive agreement to sell to Aditi & expects to enter into an outsourced
development arrangement with Aditi. This provides BCOR with continued access to engineering
talent while reducing BCORs costs of managing a foreign subsidiary.33
Before June 30 2010, Feigns Remorse: we discontinued the syndication of our search results to
certain distribution partners who we deemed to be delivering low quality clicks.34 - BCOR
September 2010: Chairman Voelker announces resignation from the Board.35
November 2010: CEO William Lansing quits.36
2011 Present. Scheme Pays Off, Complaints Rise: Blucora implements its India-based click
fraud schemes, helping the company drive sufficient traffic. Meets and beats internal and Wall
Street search revenue expectations. An increasing number of vulnerable users are victimized by
Blucora and its business partners malfeasance, as weve documented throughout this report.
Supporting Facts
Infospaces search revenue has increased 2x since 2010, even as its brand-recognition declined37:
Blucora Search Revenue Breakdown
2010
2011
2012
$ in millions
Total revenue
$214
$229
$407
Search revenue
$214
$229
$345
69%
80%
88%
Distribution Partners
30%
20%
12%
Owned & Operated
2013LTM
$504
$399
85%
15%
Page 14 of 67
Blucora has taken every possible action, EXCEPT reinvest in its search business since 2010:
1. Renamed itself Infospace Blucora38 why distance itself from a growing business?
2. Acquired a hodge podge of unrelated businesses, instead of re-investing in search39.
3. BCOR has behaved as if its search business can disappear at any given moment.
Aditi has an office in Bellevue, WA, 10 minutes away from Blucora40
Blucoras main web properties derive a 80+% of traffic from outside the US, and India is the #1
and #2 traffic contributor (as shown several pages ago)
Blucoras past/present relationships with controversial entities such as Intelius, Blinkx (all with
offices 10 minutes away from Blucora).
Blucora does not name a single distribution partner, between 2010 present (except Make the
Web Better in 2010, which seems to have disappeared unnoticed in 2011), despite their sizeable
contributions toward overall revenue.
Page 15 of 67
webcrawler.com
metacrawler.com
dogpile.com
Page 16 of 67
Rise of Illicit Clicks Explains Recent Growth in Owned and Operated Search Revenue
We believe most (if not all) recent growth in Blucoras Owned and Operated search revenues are
derived from illicit content searches, e.g. child pornography and pirated content. BCOR had clear motive
to generate marginal traffic from fringe sources, as distribution revenue growth recently slowed44:
We expect that revenue from searches conducted by end users on sites of our
distribution partners will continue to be an increasing majority of our search services
revenue. 10K 2012
Unfortunately for Blucora, Google (as well as Federal Law) does not care if child pornography related
activity is 0.1%, 1.0%, 10.0%, or 100.0% of total activity. They have a zero tolerance policy 45:
Google is deeply committed to providing a healthy and trusted online environment for all of our
users, and especially children. While the Internet provides an amazing opportunity for people to
connect with useful information, some online material poses serious risks to children and families,
and some online behavior violates the law and should be eradicated. Child pornography, in
particular, is a horrific and vicious crime. Today, I testified before the House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations about Googles efforts to keep kids safe online.
Among the initiatives that I highlighted:
- Google has a zero-tolerance policy on child pornography. We prohibit any advertising related
to child pornography. When we become aware of child pornography anywhere in our search
engine or on our site, we immediately remove and report it to the appropriate authorities.
- We work closely with law enforcement to help track down child predators, and respond to
hundreds of child safety-related requests per year.
Page 17 of 67
child.webcrawler.com Daily Ad budget for this shady sub-domain has increased dramatically
from Q3 to Q4 2013. They keywords used to generate traffic include child pornography-related
terms46:
Page 18 of 67
Page 19 of 67
Page 20 of 67
Instead of webcrawler.com, info.com (listed as one Blucoras distribution partner several years ago; we
suspect the two are secretly business partners) now shows ads related to these child porn terms48:
Page 21 of 67
Page 22 of 67
By 2010, WhenU.com somehow resurfaced as spyware, scheming this time with Infospace/Blucora.
Edelman pointed out their complicit wrong-doing.3 BCOR took notice4:
During the first half of 2010, we discontinued the syndication of our search results to certain
distribution partners who we deemed to be delivering low quality clicks. Those discontinuations
had a material negative impact on our revenues for the first half of 2010. August 2010
Blucora/Infospace is a Repeat Offender, as Documented by Edelman Below5
Flipping through my records of prior InfoSpace observations, I was struck by the half-decade of bad
behavior [2005-2010]. Consider:
June 2005: I showed InfoSpace placing Google ads into the IBIS Toolbar which, I demonstrated in
multiple screen-capture videos, was arriving on users' computers through security exploits (without
user consent). The packet log revealed that traffic flowed from IBIS directly to InfoSpace's Go2net.com
-- suggesting that InfoSpace had a direct relationship with IBIS and paid IBIS directly, not via any
intermediary.
August 2005: I showed InfoSpace placing ads through notorious spyware vendor Direct Revenue
(covering advertisers' sites with unlabeled popups presenting their own PPC ads). The packet log
revealed that traffic flowed from Direct Revenue directly to InfoSpace -- suggesting that InfoSpace had
a direct relationship with Direct Revenue and paid Direct Revenue directly, not via any intermediary.
August 2005: I showed InfoSpace placing ads through notorious spyware vendor 180solutions/Zango.
The packet log revealed that traffic flowed from 180solutions directly to InfoSpace -- suggesting that
InfoSpace had a direct relationship with 180solutions and paid 180solutions directly, not via any
intermediary.
February 2009: I showed InfoSpace placing Google ads into WhenU popups that covered advertisers'
sites with their own PPC ads.
May 2009: Again, I showed InfoSpace using WhenU to cover advertisers' sites with their own PPC ads,
through partners nearly identical to the February report.
January 2010 (last week): I showed InfoSpace's still placing Google ads into WhenU popups and still
covering advertisers' sites with their own PPC ads.
Page 23 of 67
This Blucora shareholder did not do his due diligence, just as he did not do his due diligence before
purchasing Chinese reverse mergers stock frauds7:
Page 24 of 67
It Gets Worse: We have a video and we document the Infospace/Iminent scam in real-time8
1. This video captures the Infospace/Iminent scam in real time.
Note several instances of misrepresentation, specifically cloaking (i.e. search engines see one
thing, and visitors see something else). Pop-ups open without consent.
Iminent.com is referred to as a virus, browser hijacker, adware, spyware, and more9.
The Infospace/Iminent scam resembles the Infospace/WhenU scam Edelman exposed.
Appears to be in violation of Googles terms of agreement, and also applicable laws.
The Smoking Gun: Infospace/Iminent Cloaking with Search Ads, in Violation of Google Guidelines
This screen sufficiently shows Infospace cloaking10:
Page 25 of 67
Blucora is worse than Babylon, when it comes to illicit search traffic, as evidenced by the child
porn and pirated content searches and clicks (see earlier sections for more).
Google prohibits any advertising related to child pornography.
Blucoras search results violate guidelines articulated in BCOR/GOOG 2011 amended agreement.
BCOR has a long (and growing) track record of a variety of wrong-doing.
Google is economically better off without Blucora.
Google has more reasons to drop BCOR today than it did in 2010, when Edelman suggested it.
Severing Ties with Blucora would Bolster Googles Recent Commitment to Combat Child Pornography
2 weeks after Google cut ties with Babylon, it publicly responded to UK Prime Minister David Cameron2:
Leading search engine companies Google and Microsoft have agreed measures to make it harder
to find child abuse images online. As many as 100,000 search terms will now return no results
that find illegal material, and will trigger warnings that child abuse imagery is illegal.
David Cameron has welcomed the move but said it must be delivered or he would bring forward
new legislation. Child protection experts have warned most images are on hidden networks.
In July, Mr Cameron called on Google & Microsoft's Bing - which together account for 95% of
search traffic - to do more to prevent people getting access to illegal images. He said they
needed to ensure that searches which were unambiguously aimed at finding illegal images
should return no results.
But Jim Gamble, former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), told
BBC Breakfast he did not think the measures would make any difference with regard to
protecting children from paedophiles."They don't go on to Google to search for images. They
go on to the dark corners of the internet ...
Page 26 of 67
Google has a zero-tolerance Policy on Child Pornography & Prohibits any Advertising Related to it
According to Google3:
Google is deeply committed to providing a healthy and trusted online environment for all of our
users, and especially children. While the Internet provides an amazing opportunity for people to
connect with useful information, some online material poses serious risks to children and families,
and some online behavior violates the law and should be eradicated. Child pornography, in
particular, is a horrific and vicious crime. Today, I testified before the House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations about Googles efforts to keep kids safe online.
Among the initiatives that I highlighted:
- Google has a zero-tolerance policy on child pornography. We prohibit any advertising related
to child pornography. When we become aware of child pornography anywhere in our search
engine or on our site, we immediately remove and report it to the appropriate authorities.
- We work closely with law enforcement to help track down child predators, and respond to
hundreds of child safety-related requests per year.
Ads on Search Results Violate Google Requirements per 2011 Amended Agreement
Weve found at least 2 kinds of direct violations:
There are more than 3 ads displayed, despite Google allowing for UP TO 34
Page 27 of 67
We see ads displayed in the middle of search results, where only organic results should be
placed (in fact, it seems ads take up more space than organic search results):
Zoomed in:
4 ads, instead of 3
Ads in middle of
search results, in
lieu of more
organic results.
Page 28 of 67
Low quality ads the ads displayed on the top are nearly identical to those on the bottom
Page 29 of 67
Page 30 of 67
Page 31 of 67
Even if Google and Blucora Renew their Agreement in March 2014, Google Can Walk Away Any Time
Straight from BCOR SEC filings6:
If Google or Yahoo! believe that we or our search distribution partners have failed to meet the
requirements and guidelines or the Search Customer agreements, they may suspend or
terminate our or our distribution partners use and distribution of their search products and
services, with or without notice, and in the event of certain violations, may terminate their
agreements with us. We and our distribution partners have limited rights to cure breaches of the
requirements and guidelines.
Failure by us or our search distribution partners to comply with the guidelines promulgated by
Google and Yahoo! may cause that Search Customer to temporarily or permanently suspend the
use of its content or terminate its agreement with us, or may require us to modify or terminate
certain distribution relationships.
Restrictions on our ability, & the ability of our search distribution partners, to distribute, market,
or offer search-related applications, products, and services may impact our financial results.
A significant portion of our Search revenue is dependent on business models that can be
negatively impacted by changes in policies or technology. For example, many of our Search
distribution partners distribute applications, extensions, or toolbars that are monetized through
the search services that we provide. Our Search Customers require that such applications,
extensions, or toolbars, and the distribution of those applications, extensions, or toolbars,
comply with certain guidelines. Our Search Customers can and do modify these guidelines
from time to time, and recent modifications of these guidelines may impact the distribution of
applications, extensions, or toolbars that drive traffic and revenue to our search services. In
addition, our Search Customers guidelines have in the past, and may in the future, negatively
affected our ability, and the ability of our search distribution partners, to drive traffic to our
search services through the use of search engine marketing.
Further, certain third parties have introduced, and can be expected to continue to introduce, new
or updated technologies, applications, and policies that may interfere with the ability of users of
search services provided directly by us or by our search distribution partners to access those
services. For example third parties have introduced technologies and applications (including new
and enhanced web browsers) that prevent users from downloading the extensions or toolbars
provided by some of our search partners. Those applications may also have features and policies
that interfere with the functionality of search boxes embedded within extensions and toolbars
and the maintenance of home page and other settings previously selected by users.
Any changes in technologies, applications, and policies that restrict the distribution, marketing,
and offering of search-related applications, extensions, toolbars, products, and services may
impact our operating and financial results.
Page 32 of 67
If the above is correct, Google will retain a greater percentage of the $1 described if it severs its
ties with BCOR.
Given how terrible (in quality) BCORs search results are, its not clear what BCOR is bringing to
the table to earn 80% of the economics. And this is only on the legitimate searches.
The above analysis only addresses the upside return, not the downside risks. If UK Prime
Minister David Cameron, or other politicians probe Google and Blucoras child porn search
results & ads, Google bears a disproportionate amount of the financial & reputational risks.
If Google does not renew its agreement with Blucora, it eliminates the downside risks, and
captures all of the upside potential.
Google has more reasons to drop BCOR today than it did in 2010, when Edelman suggested it
Professor Benjamin Edelman has publicly recommended (on several occasions) that Google should, Fire
InfoSpace; there's zero reason for this relationship to continue in light of InfoSpace's repeated failings.
Weve documented some of his statements & reasoning earlier in this report. Here is more 8:
The Impropriety of Google's Relationship with InfoSpace
In my view, Google's relationship with InfoSpace is ill-advised for at least three reasons:
First, InfoSpace has a track record of improper placements of Google ads. InfoSpace is implicated
in all three of the placements detailed above -- misplacements that have continued over a
lengthy period despite ample notice and opportunity for correction. Furthermore, I have
personally observed other improper placements by InfoSpace. (Perhaps I'll post more in a further
piece.) Google need not continue to do business with a distributor with such a poor track record.
Second, Google does not need a distributor whose business model entails farming out ad
placements to subdistributors. If InfoSpace's subdistributors seek to distribute Google ads, and to
be paid for doing so, let them apply directly to Google and undergo Google's ordinary quality
control and oversight. Inserting InfoSpace as an additional intermediary serves only to lessen
accountability.
Third, InfoSpace's corporate history undermines any request for lenience or forgiveness. The
Seattle Times chronicles InfoSpace's accounting fraud in a three-part investigative report, "DotCon Job. The Seattle Times byline summarizes their findings: "Investors were cashing out
millions, and faithful investors were left with pennies." Hardly a mark of trustworthiness!
Page 33 of 67
Ties that Blind: Youre only as good as the company you keep
The Ties that Blind
By now, we expect readers to wonder how Infospace/Blucora could possibly get away with all the
current and past misdeeds highlighted in this report. Gotham City Research believes the following have
contributed to the companys misbehavior leading to the present:
No senior Blucora/Infospace executive has ever faced criminal liability, to date, despite the
many and repeated examples of management and corporate malfeasance throughout its history.
The current management team (a few key members have been with the company for 5-15
years), has been conditioned to believe it can engage in any risky/improper behavior, and never
face personal liability; only upside.
Most, if not all, of the misbehavior that we & Professor Edelman describe occurred under
current Managements watch.
Nearly all BCOR CEOs have eventually resigned amid some prevailing controversy, at the time.
Blucoras distribution partners include some (at best) controversial outfits, as well as some
proven rogue operators. The company does not reveal their identities for a reason.
Eric Emans, a long-time Infospace/Blucora employee, is the Chief Financial Officer. He was the
Chief Accounting Officer prior to being appointed CFO, and worked for Deloitte & Touche
(BCORs long-time auditor, up to 2012) before joining Infospace in the early 2000s.
Michael Glover heads the search segment, and has been with BCOR since 2000.
William J. Ruckelshaus became the companys president and CEO in November 2010 after
serving as a board member since May 2007. Ruckelshaus had no prior CEO experience.
John E. Cunningham, IV has served as director of the company since July 1998 and as the
chairman of the board of directors since January 2011. He also served as lead independent
director from February 2010 through December 2010. He is a member of the Audit Committee.
Mr. Cunninghams brother, James S. Cunningham, is an employee of the Company who is
serving as one of the Companys managers of business development.
Page 34 of 67
Recall from our earlier child pornography section that webcrawler.coms illicit ads related to the vlad
model disappeared recently, only to be replaced by info.com ads for the same illicit terms3:
Page 35 of 67
Page 36 of 67
November 30, 2010 Blinkx hasnt become a household name like YouTube, in part because the lions
share of its business is providing video search services to other companies, such as Ask.com, Real
Networks, and Infospace. 7
January 28, 2014 According to Professor Edelmans, The Darker Side of Blinkx: I show the ex-AdOn
traffic broker still sending invisible, popup, and other tainted traffic.8
According to Alexa9:
Page 37 of 67
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/pavel-lyadnov/23/160/70a
Blinkx and Blucora 10 minute drive (<5 miles away from each other) according to google maps 11
http://www.yellowpages.com/bellevue-wa/mip/blinkx-460664010
We called the listed phone number, and surely it is Blinkx.
Page 38 of 67
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shakedtal
Intelius and Blucora Partners of the Past, Present, or Both?
Founder and former CEO of Infospace.com Naveen Jain (with other former Infospace employees )
founded Intelius13:
After leaving InfoSpace Jain started a new company, Intelius, across the street from his old
offices in Bellevue, Washington. Intelius has been on the receiving end of hundreds of consumer
complaints alleging fraud, many of which are around a partnership the company has with
Adaptive Marketing and a product they offer called Privacy Matters Identity. Every time a
customer buys a product at Intelius, they are shown a page telling them Take our 2008
Consumer Credit Survey and claim $10.00 CASH BACK with Privacy Matters Identity.
January 1, 2008 from Intelius S-1 (it never went public)14: We have established relationships with
leading online portals and directories, including Idearc, InfoSpace, MSN, Yahoo! and
YELLOWPAGES.COM, that market our services on their websites and direct visitors to our websites.
June 2012 Infospace changes its name to Blucora, and Intelius changes its name to Inome. 15
Last but Not Least, Lets Not Forget Iminent.com
As weve documented earlier in this report, Iminent.com is a deeply troubling, current Blucora partner16:
Page 39 of 67
Non-GAAP is Back
InfoSpace bubble-era accounting highly "complicated": historical background
According to USA Today1:
InfoSpace used complicated accounting methods in an attempt to reach Wall Street's revenue
expectations during the aftermath of the dot-com frenzy, The Seattle Times reported this week.
The deals helped the once high-flying technology company please Wall Street analysts even as its
much-vaunted business was not performing as well as executives had hoped, the newspaper said.
After Naveen Jain was forced out, Jim Voelker took over as CEO, and stopped reporting non-GAAP,
profits before all the bad stuff2:
The company's revenues today are solid, Voelker said. By the time he took over, the company
had already stopped the dubious practice of investing in companies in exchange for business.
"There weren't any lazy Susan deals out there," he said.
Voelker ended the company's practice of reporting pro-forma profits, which critics dubbed
"profits before all the bad stuff" and which didn't meet general accounting standards.
Jim Voelker resigned as CEO in 2009, and as Chairman in 2010. BCORs post-Voelker accounting and
disclosure practices concern us for the following reasons:
CEO William Ruckelshaus reintroduced Non-GAAP reporting in 2011. The irregularities between
BCORs GAAP and Non-GAAP are troubling.
Over 50% of cash flows from operating activities are a result of increases in Accrued expenses
and other current and long-term liabilities, in the last few quarters.
Blucora purchased Make The Web Better, a distribution partner (a rare instance whereby BCOR
actually names a partner). We suspect theres a lazy susan element to this transaction.
Accounting Goodwill seems inflated. Economic goodwill seems quite negative.
Between 2007 to date, BCOR filed 36 comment and response letters with the SEC (vast majority
post 2011).
Auditor change Deloitte to Ernst and Young. Timing is interesting (just around the merger time)
Audit fee declining $789K to $433K from 2011 to 2012, even as company grew in complexity.
Former Blinkx staff accountant is now a Blucora staff accountant.
Less distribution partner disclosure today compared to Voelkers time.
Page 40 of 67
The Curious Case of Make The Web Better: a Lazy Susan Transaction?
Infospace.com in the past5:
However, Jain later renegotiated the deal with his brother to try to dramatically boost
InfoSpace's struggling revenues.
They came up with a plan: InfoSpace would buy an $8 million interest in netgenShopper, which in
turn would send $5 million of it back as payment to InfoSpace for promotional services.
Specifically, InfoSpace agreed to send out e-mails to potential customers and guaranteed an
enormous number of hits on netgenShopper's online ads.
It was the kind of deal that InfoSpace insiders referred to as "buying revenue" or "a lazy
Susan" because the cash the company gave out came right back to it as revenue.
Page 41 of 67
Revenue generated from search traffic on the Make The Web Better site was $3.1 million in 2012, $8.2
million in 2011, and $16.4 million in 20106:
2012
$3.1
$344.8
(62.2%)
50.7%
What happened? How did MTWB revenue decline to zero by 2013 (there is no mention in the 2013
filings), even as total search revenue has doubled in that time? Also it appears Blucora has yet to make
the necessary impairments to earnings (i.e. the balance sheet is inflated).
The http://www.make-the-web-better.com/ website is off-line; impairment seems appropriate:
Company
Received Type
BLUCORA, INC. 11/04/13 LETTER
LETTER
LETTER
LETTER
LETTER
Company Received
BLUCORA, 11/30/12
INC.
BLUCORA, 11/30/12
INC.
BLUCORA, 04/26/11
Type
LETTER
LETTER
LETTER
INC.
BLUCORA,
04/26/11 CORRESP
INC.
BLUCORA, 04/26/11 CORRESP
INC.
BLUCORA,
04/26/11 CORRESP
Company Received
BLUCORA, 03/20/09
INC.
BLUCORA, 03/20/09
INC.
BLUCORA, 03/20/09
INC.
BLUCORA,
03/20/09
INC.
BLUCORA, 03/20/09
INC.
BLUCORA, 03/20/09
INC.
BLUCORA,
04/26/11 CORRESP
INC.
BLUCORA, 04/26/11 CORRESP
INC.
BLUCORA,
04/26/11 CORRESP
INC.
BLUCORA,
09/07/07
INC.
BLUCORA, 09/07/07
INC.
BLUCORA, 09/07/07
INC.
BLUCORA,
04/26/11 LETTER
INC.
BLUCORA, 04/26/11 LETTER
INC.
BLUCORA,
03/20/09 LETTER
INC.
BLUCORA,
09/07/07
INC.
BLUCORA, 09/07/07
INC.
BLUCORA, 09/07/07
INC.
INC.
Page 42 of 67
BCOR changed from its long-time auditor, Deloitte and Touche, to Ernst and Young
BCOR re-introduced Non-GAAP net income the very same year (something that, perhaps, its old
auditor would not allow)
BCOR growing acquisition activity and complexity
Page 43 of 67
Blucoras business is structurally fragile, built on a foundation of hidden risks. It additionally faces an
array of immediate downside catalysts.
Page 44 of 67
Blucora derives 60+% of revenue from Google vs. 40% for Babylon3
Google decided not to renew its contract with Babylon, after receiving a large number of
complaints. Blucoras offenses are well documented in this report and elsewhere.
Blucoras search traffic has benefited from child porn and pirated content searches, as
documented in this report. Google prohibits advertising related to child pornography.
Even if Google and Blucora Renew their Agreement in March 2014, Google Can Walk Away Any Time
The immediate risk for shareholders is the upcoming March 2014 Google deadline. However, the risk
remains afterwards. BCOR is the Thanksgiving turkey, the March 2014 deadline is Thanksgiving day, and
Google can designate any future day as Thanksgiving day:4
If Google or Yahoo! believe that we or our search distribution partners have failed to meet the
requirements and guidelines or the Search Customer agreements, they may suspend or
terminate our or our distribution partners use and distribution of their search products and
services, with or without notice, and in the event of certain violations, may terminate their
agreements with us.
We and our distribution partners have limited rights to cure requirement/guideline breaches.
Failure by us or our search distribution partners to comply with the guidelines promulgated by
Google and Yahoo! may cause that Search Customer to temporarily or permanently suspend the
use of its content or terminate its agreement with us, or may require us to modify or terminate
certain distribution relationships.
The Unknown Unknowns: Shareholders are missing the $400+ million Problem
Blucoras search revenue growth since 2010 has come at the cost of building hidden risks into the
business, rendering it more fragile today than in 2010 (though it looks stronger to the unsuspecting):
FTC, DOJ, FBI, IRS, &/or the SEC If any of these entities investigates BCOR (and we believe they
have plenty of cause to do so), we estimate liability to easily exceed $200 million for BCOR.
Child Pornography is a Federal Crime, Period Wall Street and Blucora shareholders fail to
understand how criminal liability works in practice. If a man is caught watching child
pornography, he faces criminal liability, regardless of whether he only spends 10.0%, 1.0%, 0.1%,
or 0.01% of his time watching child pornography.
Trial Attorney, Class Action If a capable lawyer were to sue Blucora, on behalf of all the
malware and related victims (the elderly, advertisers, etc), we estimate liability at $200+ million.
Blucoras Search Business Banned If Infospace.com, etc. were to disappear tomorrow, no one
will care, and no one will notice. Given the on-going malfeasance weve uncovered, and its
history of committing wrong-doing, a few probes seem well-warranted.
Page 45 of 67
We estimate GAAP earnings will decline to ~$15 million, if revenue from Google declines ~10%.
10% of revenue from Google is ~$36 million, and at a ~40% gross margin, results in a ~$14
million decline in earnings. 2013 TTM net income of $29 million less $14 million = ~$15 million.
At a 14x P/E multiple, $15 million in earnings gets us to $5.00 per share.
BCOR has been burning cash in the last few years, just as it should be hoarding cash (to offset
against the unacceptable search-related risks it has quietly been taking)5
Tangible book value is now negative, leaving no downside protection. We believe the company
has material NEGATIVE economic goodwill, due to its shady business practices6
The Company has very few reserves against a disruptive adverse development7
TaxAct and Monoprices importance is diminished, in our view, because Infospace is large and
important enough to bring the whole house of cards down. That being said, we think TaxAct and
Monoprice provide $1-$2 per share in downside protection. NOLs are of negligible value, given
the risks weve identified in this report. NOLs cannot fund fines and restitution.
Page 46 of 67
*Weight factor - the importance of traffic, relative to BCOR's total traffic. based on rankings.
**Suspect Traffic - Involuntary, artificial, illicit, and otherwise irrelevant traffic.
***% of Total Traffic - each properties % contribution to total traffic. Weighted average of
*** (continued) the Suspect Traffic and the Weight Factor, respectively.
Comments: All BCOR properties have an unusually % of (A) elderly (B) foreign-based visitors
Webcrawler.com Alexa ranks WebCrawler as the 400-500th most trafficked site on the
Internet in the world; it was ~7,000th just two year ago. For starters, this is too good to be true,
does not pass the sniff test (when is the last time you heard about webcrawler, outside this
report?). We conservatively estimate that 33% of webcrawler.com is suspect because:
1. Over 90% of webcrawlers top search terms are unrelated and generic keywords
Hotmail, youtube, and facebook. This does not prove click fraud, but it is consistent with
documented incidences of click fraud. Google delivers no adwords for these terms.
2. Instead, we find that webcrawler is an aggressive acquirer child pornography terms (as
shown earlier).
3. Fantastigames.webcrawler.com is a tricky browser hijacker that presents itself as a
legitimate search engine. Most certainly consistent with driving suspect traffic.
4. 80% of webcrawler.coms visitors originate from outside North America, specifically
over 33% of visitors originate from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh.
India is a well known hot spot for click fraud.
Infospace.com css.infospace.com, is a proven virus/browser hijacker and 94+% of
infospace.com traffic is directed to it.
metacrawler.com metacrawler.com seems defunct, and even redirects traffic to zoo.com,
which has a popularity ranking an order of magnitude less than metacrawler (this makes no
sense). So we assume 100% traffic currently and going forward is suspect.
dogpile.com We find the % of suspect traffic similar to webcrawler.com for similar reasons.
Page 47 of 67
Classified by experts as malware, spyware, viruses, and/or (best case) malicious software.
Difficult to remove. There are detailed instructions in all above cases, how to remove
Low quality traffic, involuntary traffic
Preys on the elderly, poor English speakers, and those who are busy / not attentive to detail.
What is the Fast Browser Search virus (redirect)? The Fast Browser Search virus, also referred to
as the fastbrowsersearch.com redirect, is potential malware developed by Blucora (Infospace)
categorized as a browser hijacker. http://botcrawl.com/how-to-remove-fast-browser-search/
What is Metacrawler (Metacrawler.com)? Metacrawler Toolbar is a malware add-on/extension
which installs to internet browsers with or without user consent. http://botcrawl.com/how-toremove-metacrawler-toolbar-malware-and-infospace-viruses/
Remove infospace.com virus. How to uninstall search
http://www.rescuemybrowser.com/infospace-com-virus-removal
How to uninstall (remove) Gamers Unite Snag Bar (coolchaser.infospace.com) see video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgOTxk-TkEQ
Page 48 of 67
Page 49 of 67
It installs in the computer system without users permission or consent often with free downloads.
It changes existing browser settings including provided search engines and home pages causing
it to redirect to related malicious websites.
As a tactic against innocent Internet users, it appears alike some legitimate search engine like
Google.com and persuade victims to use illegitimate search engine.
It often mess up with the privacy settings and exploits them to steal personal files or information.
Source: http://www.keepbrowsersafe.com/remove-css-infospace-com-get-rid-of-css-infospace-com-frompc
Page 50 of 67
New fraud (infospace scam) found, software bundle that is distributed on a torrent sites
{0 Comments}
Posted by Simon Dougal on February 12, 2013
in Malicious activities, Notifications
Hey guys, so we found one new fraud, we found one software bundle that can be found on few
torrent sites: eztv.it and extratorrent.com
This software bundle is signed with Cool Mirage ltd.
This software bundle has few variations that you can see from video we made, installer downloads 3
files:
http://www1.INSTALLSTARTER.com/TornTVApp.exe
http://www1.INSTALLSTARTER.com/newyontoo-c2.exe
http://www1.INSTALLSTARTER.com/IminentSetup645.exe
Also it has offer screen for all of them, on the end you have TornTV application which can be used
to watch copyrighted sport games, Iminent toolbar which also installs Iminent search engine and
homepage. Iminent toolbar sets http://start.iminent.com/ as homepage
Page 51 of 67
Search Traffic:
What percentage of visits to this site come from a search engine?
Page 52 of 67
Upstream Sites
Which sites did people visit immediately before this site?
Site
1. inspsearch.com
6.4%
2. snapdo.com
6.0%
3. iminent.com
3.2%
4. mysearchresults.com
2.9%
5. govome.com
2.7%
6. globososo.com
1.8%
7. facebook.com
1.5%
8. google.com
1.3%
9. babylon.com
1.3%
10. youtube.com
1.3%
Percent of Visitors
ccs.infospace.com
94.81%
infospace.com
2.12%
search.infospace.com
0.91%
wsdsold.infospace.com
0.74%
reports.infospace.com
0.65%
utorrent.infospace.com
0.61%
coolchaser.infospace.com
0.54%
Page 53 of 67
Subdomain
Percent of Visitors
gateway.infospace.com
0.16%
eastlink.infospace.com
0.13%
Page 54 of 67
Access the system files folder and remove the following files that are considered as the associated
data of the Fantastigames.webcrawler.com : %Desktopdir%\Fantastigames.webcrawler.com.lnk
%Programs%\Fantastigames.webcrawler.com\Fantastigames.webcrawler.com.lnk
Reverse the Modification in the Windows Registry
Click on the start menu, select the Run option, and write RegEdit before pressing the Enter key to
open the registry editor. Once the registry editor is accessed, you have to remove the following
malicious entries from the windows registry before closing the registry editor:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Fantastigam
es.webcrawler.com\DisplayIcon
%AppData%\[RANDOM
CHARACTERS]\[RANDOM
CHARACTERS].exe,0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Fantastigam
es.webcrawler.com
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Fantastigam
es.webcrawler.com\UninstallString
%AppData%[RANDOM
CHARACTERS][RANDOM
CHARACTERS].exe -u
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\[RANDOM
CHARACTERS] %AppData%\[RANDOM CHARACTERS]\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Fantastigam
es.webcrawler.com\ShortcutPath
%AppData%\[RANDOM
CHARACTERS]\[RANDOM
CHARACTERS].exe -u
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Fantastigam
es.webcrawler.com\DisplayName Fantastigames.webcrawler.com
Finally, you have to reboot your computer in the normal mode and see the result of recent changes
you have made. Run a complete the system scan after updating the antivirus program.
Source: http://spywareremovers.com/how-to-remove-fantastigames-webcrawler-com
Something called WebCrawler keeps hijacking my browser. How do I stop it?
So some website called webcrawler.com keeps opening literally half a dozen windows at a time and
directing me to random websites, some of which aren't even in English. I've tried to remove it (since I'm
assuming it's a virus) using MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Rkill, Norman Malware Cleaner, AND
Hitman Pro. But it keeps coming back.
So: what do I have to do to get rid of it? Please help, if you have any idea!
Additional Details
Oh. Also, there IS no extra toolbar, and nothing on my list of programs called WebCrawler. So I can't
exactly uninstall it.
Source: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110815082540AAknHXN
Page 55 of 67
Source: http://pcvirusesremoval.blogspot.com/2013/10/remove-dogpilecom-redirect-virus.html
Another source, similar opinions:
Source: http://www.go-remove-malware.com/tag/dogpile-search-removal-tool/
And another:
Page 56 of 67
The Dogpile.com homepage will display advertisements and sponsored links in your
search results, and may collect search terms from your search queries. The
Dogpile.com hijack is used to boost advertising revenue, as in the use of blackhat SEO,
to inflate a sites page ranking in search results.
Dogpile.com its technically not a virus, but it does exhibit plenty of malicious traits, such
as rootkit capabilities to hook deep into the operating system, browser hijacking, and in
general just interfering with the user experience. The industry generally refers to it as a
PUP, or potentially unwanted program.
Dogpile.com is an ad-supported (users may see additional banner, search, pop-up, popunder, interstitial and in-text link advertisements) cross web browser plugin for Internet
Explorer (BHO) and Firefox/Chrome (plugin) and distributed through various
monetization platforms during installation. The browser extension includes various
features that will modify the default or custom settings of the browser including the
home page, search settings and in some cases will modify Internet Explorers load time
Page 57 of 67
threshold, place a lock file within Firefox to prevent competing software from zchanging
its settings as well as disable the browsers Content Security Policy in order to allow for
cross site scripting of the plugin.
Dogpile.com homepage got on your computer after you have installed a freeware
software (video recording/streaming, download-managers or PDF creators) that had
bundled into their installation this browser hijacker.
For example, when you install VPlay, you will also agree to change your browser
homepage and default search engine to Dogpile.com
However when you uninstall VPlay from your computer, your web browsers default
settings will not be restored. This means that youll have to remove Dogpile.com
homepage from your favorite web browser manually.
Page 58 of 67
Source: http://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-dogpile-virus/
Search result , while searching for dogpile.com
Who visits dogpile.com?
Metacrawler.com
Metacrawler Toolbar is a malware add-on/extension which installs to internet browsers with or without
user consent. http://botcrawl.com/how-to-remove-metacrawler-toolbar-malware-and-infospaceviruses/
Page 59 of 67
Page 60 of 67
Page 61 of 67
Source: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=417579
Harvard Professor Attacking Google Thrives as Web Sheriff
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-14/harvard-professor-attacking-google-thrives-as-websheriff.html?utm_campaign=xlike1&utm_country=es&utm_timestamp=20140214101727EST
Hes the Doogie Howser of online investigative work, Microsofts Richard Boscovich, a former federal
prosecutor, is assistant general counsel at the software companys digital-crimes unit.
Hes part academic and part cyber sleuth, Ken Dreifach, former chief of the Internet bureau of the
New York Attorney Generals Office.
In 2006, after Edelman wrote about Zango, the company agreed to pay $3 million to settle a Federal
Trade Commission complaint that it used unfair and deceptive methods to put advertising software on
consumers computers. Blinkx is using Zangos software, Edelman said in his blog post.
Other work exposing Infospaces schemes (by Professor Ben Edelman):
Google Click Fraud Inflates Conversion Rates and Tricks Advertisers into Overpaying January 12, 2010
Source: http://www.benedelman.org/news/011210-1.html#infospace
Source: http://www.benedelman.org/news/083105-1.html
Page 62 of 67
End Notes
Introduction
1. Dot-con job: How InfoSpace took its investors for a ride, Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2002198103_dotcon1main06.html
2. Spitzer: Merrill analyst pitched stock he called 'junk' , USA Today,
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/finance/2002-04-15-spitzer-email-evidence.htm
3. Google on Cloaking, https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66355?hl=en
4. Google Click Fraud Inflates Conversion Rates and Tricks Advertisers into Overpaying
http://www.benedelman.org/news/011210-1.html
5. BCOR 10Q for Q2 2010
Blucora = Involuntary clicks + Artificial clicks + Illicit clicks
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
Page 63 of 67
4. Alexa.com
5. BCOR press release, InfoSpace Partners with blinkx to Offer Video Search Functionality on
Award-Winning Dogpile.com
6. Google Click Fraud Inflates Conversion Rates and Tricks Advertisers into Overpaying , Ben
Edelman
7. With a Lifeline to London, Blinkx Builds the Worlds Largest Video Search Index,
http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2010/11/30/with-a-lifeline-to-london-blinkx-buildsthe-worlds-largest-video-search-index/
8. The Darker Side of Blinkx, Ben Edelman
9. Alexa.com
10. Pavel Lyadnov https://www.linkedin.com/pub/pavel-lyadnov/23/160/70a
11. Google maps
12. https://www.linkedin.com/in/shakedtal
13. Naveen Jain's Latest Scam: Intelius, http://techcrunch.com/2008/05/29/naveen-jains-inteliusprepares-to-go-public-how-much-of-their-revenue-is-a-scam/
14. Intelius S-1 Filing
15. Meet Inome: The latest thing to sprout from Naveen Jain
http://www.geekwire.com/2012/inome-naveen-jains-latest-entrepreneurial-pursuit/
16. http://www.iminent.com/Help/faq
Non-GAAP is Back
1. InfoSpace bubble-era accounting highly "complicated",
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2005-03-10infospace_x.htm?csp=34
2. Dot-con job: How InfoSpace took its investors for a ride, Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2002198103_dotcon1main06.html
3. BCOR 10K filings
4. BCOR 10K and 10Q filings.
5. Dot-con job: How InfoSpace took its investors for a ride, Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2002198103_dotcon1main06.html
6. BCOR 10K filings.
7. EdgarPro
8. BCOR proxy filings.
9. BCOR 10K filings
10.
Page 66 of 67
Page 67 of 67