Archive for June, 2007

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How Does Malaysian ISP Allocate IP Addresses

Published June 21, 2007 in Interesting. 10 Comments

Firstly, this is not an official guide or any official explanation on how Malaysian ISP allocate IP addresses to its users. This explanation is made purely based on my personal observation. It may not be 100% accurate but it does work to a certain extend.

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Every time an Internet user logs into the Internet, they will be allocated with an IP address. There are two types of IP addresses — static and dynamic. “A Static IP address is where a computer uses the same address every time a user logs on to a network, for example the Internet”. On the other hand, a dynamic IP address “may change depending on the addresses available in the set scope”. (source)

In most cases, a general Internet user will be allocated with a dynamic IP address. You can check your IP address using web services such as CheckMyIP and WhatIsMyIP every time you log into the Internet. If your IP address changes each time, you are using a dynamic IP.

Typically, an IP address consists of 4 sets of numbers (0 to 255) separated by a dot (.) in between each set.

A . B . C . D

Example: 124.56.32.86, 60.49.123.56, 219.111.56.102, etc.

I’ll try to explain what wikipedia meant by stating a dynamic IP address changes according to the available address in the set scope. Take for example a scenario where a user is allocated the IP address 218.111.56.237. From my observation, each time the user connects to the Internet from the same area (how wide an area, I have no clue), he might[1] be allocated with an IP address that starts with 218.111.C.D. The number C can be any number +/- 5 of 56 such as 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, and 59. The number D is any number between 0 to 255.

I said might[1] above because apart from IP addresses that starts with 218.111.C.D, that user might be allocated with IP addresses from a different group such as 60.50.C.D as well.

One thing I notice with the sets of IP addresses that starts with 60.50.C.D is that the same user might be allocated with IP addresses where the B (50) can be a number +/- 2 (or more) as well such as 48, 49, 51 and 52.

As a summary, a user that is using a dynamic IP address may have different IP addresses each time he connects to the Internet such as the list below. (D = any number between 0 to 255)

218.111.54.D 60.49.21.D 60.50.82.D 60.52.168.D
218.111.56.D 60.49.22.D 60.50.84.D 60.52.170.D
218.111.57.D 60.49.24.D 60.50.85.D 60.52.172.D
218.111.59.D 60.49.27.D 60.50.87.D 60.52.175.D

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UP NEXT:

“How Low Can You Go?”

An expose on how the battle between Malaysia’s two blog ad aggregators (Nuffnang and Advertlets) which is turning into a Limbo Dance competition. A (dance) competition that the former seems to be losing out. To be fair, it seems like only the latter is interested in playing with fire while the other is concentrating on growing.

Stay tuned!

Possible Solution To Nuffnang’s Occasional Slow Loading Banner Ads

Published June 20, 2007 in Nuffnang. 16 Comments

Before I begin, I would like to make it clear that this is not an official solution to the given problem. It has its pros and cons. It should not affect the banner click counts but it might, depending on how Nuffnang’s system identifies the clicks.

However, the biggest question is whether these modified codes adhere to the terms and condition and the program policies set by Nuffnang. I made a mistake by not reading through their rules before attempting such modifications. I’ve read it now and noticed that there are possibly at least two mentioning against such modification. They are:

6. Abuse of Services You shall not and shall not authorize or encourage any third party to:
* Edit, modify, filter or change the order of the information contained in any Ad or remove, obscure or minimize any Ad

and

Code Modification

The Nuffnang ad code that we provide you must be pasted directly into Web pages without any modification. Nuffnang participants are not allowed to alter any portion of the ad code or change the layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reason.

We will need to have the guys from Nuffnang to take a look at these modifications and give us the green light before we do it. Therefore, refrain yourself from trying it out first. I have reverted the changes made over at my personal blog as well. If you decide to use these modified codes, you need to agree to the terms below:

  1. Obey the terms of use set by the owner of the codes here.
  2. Obey the terms and conditions and program policies set by Nuffnang.
  3. Don’t flame me if it affects your earnings or get you banned by Nuffnang. ;-)

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The codes used are from this example. The idea is to wrap Nuffnang’s banner into the iframe in the example. That way, Nuffnang’s banner is allowed to load in the background while the rest of the blog is loaded. However, the downside of this script is that the banner will only be displayed after the rest of the blog has finish loading.

Step 1:
Copy and paste this javascript into the head of your HTML (right before the </head> is located)

Step 2:
Create the file “NN.html” that can be accessed from the root of your blog (eg. http://www.chankelwin.com/NN.html). The content of this file is the javascript for the banner ad that was given by Nuffnang. This is how my file looks like. You will need to paste your codes into the file.

Step 3:
Place this iframe code to the location where you want your Nuffnang banner to appear. Remember to change the src=”http://www.chankelwin.com/NN.html” to the location where your NN.html file is located (as in Step 2).

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That’s it! I do not know if these modifications will affect anything. I don’t even know if they will affect how the websites load when users click on the banner. Therefore, remember to wait for the “green light” from Nuffnang before using these modified codes. I do not hold responsibility if you get booted from their system.

Since I have reverted my changes to the original codes, I will show you how the modified codes would work in the video below.

Nuffnang Vs Advertlets: The Devil Strikes Again?

Published June 16, 2007 in Advertlets and Nuffnang. 10 Comments

At first, it was DevilsAdvocate. Then it became Amateur. Soon after, it transformed itself into Reaymond.

I thought it has disappeared for good but I guess I might be wrong.

Did the devil came out from its hiding place and is doing his monkey business again?

Change Your Password ASAP If You Used Blockoo.com

Published June 14, 2007 in Reviews and Security. 3 Comments

After my review on blockoo.com, I received a feedback that suggests blockoo.com is indeed “not as safe as it should be”. Even the co-founder of the company mentioned that they were approached by two antivirus firms to reveal their source code or risk blacklisted.

It doesn’t matter if they are able to prove (using their source codes) that they do not store user’s passwords in their database. I raised a question to the founder of blockoo.com as to why did they store the user’s email and password in a cookie. That question is left unanswered up to this point.

So far, their arguments are based on trust. They bought an SSL certificate, reveal their source code to the public, boast over their “more than 350,000 users” and proudly declare that “no one saying that their password was stolen”.

I don’t buy it because of two reasons. Firstly, even though they have purchased the SSL certificate, it is not utilized at all. Traffic to their website is not automatically redirected to https://www.blockoo.com. Data transmitted is only encrypted if the user goes through the https part of the website. Therefore, their purpose of buying an SSL certificate but not fully utilizing it at all is a perfect example of Lanpah-pahlan.

Secondly, why do they need to store the user’s password in a cookie? That is simply bad practice. The password in the cookie is not encrypted at all. Therefore, it is vulnerable to outside attacks. Storing the password in the cookie is totally unnecessary. If the user wants to recheck the block list, they can easily re-enter their password.

Based on the reasons above, I join Azmeen and PsyCHZZZ’s call to urge those who have used blockoo.com’s service to change their passwords IMMEDIATELY! I am not saying that they stole your passwords but the way they handled your passwords (ie. storing your password in a cookie) means that it is possible that your password has been stolen by a third party, with or without their knowledge.

Once again I would like to add, blockoo.com is a nice service to have (for some), but has started off on the wrong foot. They should have concentrated more in building a system where user’s vital information (eg. passwords) are safely guarded.

This is not the first system that I reviewed that posses a threat to user’s password security. Well, it ain’t my password that is vulnerable. To change, or not to change, is totally up to you.

Why The Fuss Over CPC or CPM Ads?

Published June 14, 2007 in Advertlets and Nuffnang. 26 Comments

Recently, Nuffnang and Advertlets started serving CPC ads to their publishers. Unlike CPM ads, CPC ads poses a new challenge to both companies — click fraud. Detecting click frauds is not a simple task. Building an effective system that recognizes and/or prevents click frauds is even harder. They are dealing with hundreds, if not thousands of possible click fraud cases. Therefore, “manual auditing” is definitely not an option.

Since the launch of CPC ads by Nuffnang, I noticed difficulty in differentiating between a CPM and CPC ad myself. There is simply no indication on the banner ad itself or even in the email notification sent by Nuffnang. This was also felt by a slightly frustrated chic.

Suet Li from Nuffnang explained:

The reason why we didn’t notify you prior to adding the ad is because the advertisers feel that if bloggers are told beforehand, then there will be a lot of faulty clicks. Some bloggers may themselves or through their friends click their own ads which will end up driving advertising costs unjustifiably.

After some discussion with another fellow blogger, I came to realize one thing. Does it really matter if I am served CPC or CPM ads? I might be disappointed after the week old campaign has ended only to find out that I have earned less than what I thought I would (ie. I received less clicks, thus less earning compared to CPM ads). Apart from that, what other reasons would I be frustrated for? Maybe if I knew that it was a CPC ad campaign, that I would have “done things differently”?

Both Nuffnang and Advertlets’ “fraud detection system” (if any) are merely few weeks old. pikey, who are publishers of Nuffnang and Advertlets has something to say (13/6/2007 08:15:29):

In terms of CPC, there’s better transparency in Nuffnang because it lists out the ad campaign you were involved, type of campaign, CPC and the rate for it. At the moment, Advertlets is still working on the Stat page and I’m still clueles. Am I running for CPC or Cost/unique campaign? and what are the CPC rates?

Sometimes, being first doesn’t mean better.

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