Botlab Explained

Type:501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Purpose:research and development related to ad fraud, user rights violations and other malicious practices in the advertising technology supply-chain.
Key People:Mikko Kotila, Amit Phansalkar
Founding Location:Helsinki, Boston
Website:http://www.botlab.io

Botlab (previously known as botlab.io) is a non-profit, volunteer based research foundation focused on research, publication and open-source development related with ad fraud, malvertising, privacy violations and other malicious practices in the advertising supported internet.[1] Botlab's global volunteer network works towards the goal of more transparent and more secure internet.

Media Coverage

A paper authored by Botlab, Compendium of Ad Fraud Knowledge[2] has been widely covered in the media[3] [4] [5] [6] including a Financial Times cover story.[7] The paper is a collaboration with World Federation of Advertisers, whose members collectively represent 90% of the world's US$700 advertising budgets. WFA published the paper as an official guideline document to its members[8] for understanding and countering ad fraud.[9]

Botlab researchers were featured in two additional Financial Times cover stories during 2015 and 2016[10] one of which was Big Read [11] , a major editorial piece of the week in Financial Times print. In addition Botlab's work and commentary have been widely featured in ad industry press,[12] [13] [14] events and social media.

Research

During 2016 Botlab's Ad Fraud Council was the author of World Federation of Advertisers guidance on ad fraud to its members titled Compendium of Ad Fraud Knowledge. Botlab also contributed as co-author to Independent auditing of online display advertising campaigns, a research paper accepted to Hotnets academic conference in 2016[15] and was a major contributor in Entropy Method for Detecting Invalid Traffic at Scale,[16] a paper introducing an open source method for large scale detection of invalid traffic.

Open Source Contributions

During 2015 and 2016 Botlab made available three open source solutions focused on detection and prevention of advertising fraud:

Collaboration with Trade associations

In addition to being listed as one of the partners[20] by World Federation of Advertisers, since Botlab's founding in early 2015 its Principal Mikko Kotila acted as the co-chair for I-COM's Data Science Board,[21] I-COM is a global trade body backed by 100 associations in 40 countries,[22] today, exploring the creation of business value from Marketing Data & Measurement.

Notes and References

  1. News: leading source of insights and understanding about advertising fraud. botlab.io ad fraud research. 2017-01-07.
  2. Web site: Compendium of ad fraud knowledge for media investors. https://web.archive.org/web/20170109021028/http://www.wfanet.org/pdf/WFA_Compendium_Of_Ad_Fraud_Knowledge.pdf. 2017-01-09. dead.
  3. News: REPORT: Ad fraud is 'second only to the drugs trade' as a source of income for organized crime. Business Insider. 2017-01-09.
  4. Web site: WFA warns that ad fraud will hit $50bn a year by 2025. The Drum. 2017-01-09.
  5. Web site: Ad fraud could become the second biggest organized crime enterprise behind the drug trade. Kulp. Patrick. Mashable. 9 June 2016 . 2017-01-09.
  6. Web site: WFA: Without Changes, Ad Fraud May Reach $150 Billion Annually. www.mediapost.com. 2017-01-09.
  7. Web site: 'Endemic' fraud threatens digital advertising budgets. www.ft.com. 2017-01-07.
  8. Web site: WFA issues first advice for combatting ad fraud Global News WFA. www.wfanet.org. 2017-01-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20170110085611/http://www.wfanet.org/en/global-news/wfa-issues-first-advice-for-combatting-ad-fraud-. 2017-01-10. dead.
  9. Web site: Press releases Press WFA. www.wfanet.org. 2017-01-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20170108002913/http://www.wfanet.org/en/press/press-releases/wfa-issues-first-advice-for-combatting-ad-fraud-?p=1. 2017-01-08. dead.
  10. News: Google charges for YouTube ads even when viewed by robots. 22 September 2015. Financial Times. 2017-01-07 . Cookson . Robert .
  11. News: Digital advertising: Brands versus bots. 18 July 2016. Financial Times. 2017-01-07 . Cookson . Robert .
  12. Web site: Mikko Kotila Discuss the Ad Fraud Ecosystem & What the Industry Can Do to Address the Problem ExchangeWire.com. www.exchangewire.com. 2017-01-09.
  13. Web site: - Annonsesvindelen vil eksplodere. Nyman. Hilde. kampanje.com. 2017-01-09.
  14. Web site: 'Major intervention from advertisers is needed to deal with fraud'. The Drum. 2017-01-09.
  15. Web site: HotNets 2016: Home Page. conferences.sigcomm.org. 2017-01-07.
  16. Web site: Entropy Method for Detecting Invalid Traffic at Scale. https://web.archive.org/web/20170110160737/http://www.it.uc3m.es/rcuevas/techreports/entropy_method.pdf. 2017-01-10. dead.
  17. Web site: botlabio/deny-hosting-IP. GitHub. 2017-01-07.
  18. Web site: SiteMindOpen/SiteMind. GitHub. 2017-01-07.
  19. Web site: NAMELES – open source ad fraud detection. nameles.org. 2017-01-07.
  20. Web site: Project Reconnect Towards better marketing. www.project-reconnect.com. 2017-01-09.
  21. Web site: Data Science Board. I-COM. 2017-01-09.
  22. Web site: Who we are. I-COM. 2017-01-09.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Botlab".

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