Just came across this important article on some shady companies doing deals with your favorite sites.  Important read for anyone who cares about consumer advocacy, web marketing  and eCommerce.

Three Internet companies — Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty — and their hundreds of partners were pilloried by Senate lawmakers and academics on Tuesday for deceptive marketing tactics.

“[T]he companies we are investigating have figured out very clever ways to manipulate consumers’ buying habits so they can make a quick buck,” said John D. Rockefeller IV, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, in a statement.

Read the full story here…