VALUE COMMERCE

Japan Affiliate Service Kyokai (Minato-ku, Tokyo; Chairman: Tim Williams, director of ValueCommerce; hereinafter “Kyokai “), an organization of affiliate service providers, and seven Kyokai member companies (hereinafter “Member Companies”) announced today that they will share information to identify affiliate partners with which Member Companies have discontinued agreements due to fraudulent activities. Each Member Company will refer to the information when examining the continuation of an agreement with affiliate partners or the registration of new affiliate partners, in order to prevent the recurrence of fraudulent activities by closely monitoring or excluding affiliate partners considered likely to commit fraud.

Since the Kyokai and its Member Companies announced the Affiliate Guidelines in October 2006, they have discussed specific measures to bolster the effectiveness of the guidelines. In the discussion, they have paid particular attention to protecting personal information. They have considered the opinions of lawyers and have referred to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for the interpretation of the Personal Information Protection Law to make the necessary preparations. By sharing information on fraudulent partners, the Kyokai and its Member Companies will strive to prevent a recurrence of fraudulent activities, to protect the interests of advertisers, to protect consumers from fraudulent service applications including phishing, and to bolster the health of the industry.

The Member Companies are posting the document entitled “Shared Use of Information on Affiliate Partners That Have Committed Fraud” on their websites today, and will make preparations that will include revising agreements and personal information protection regulations that Member Companies concluded with affiliate partners, developing management systems, and preparing databases for storing information. After October 1, 2007, the Member Companies will share information to identify affiliate partners that will have committed fraud.

Organization responsible for the use of the shared information:
Executive office of Japan Affiliate Service Kyokai

Objective of the use of the shared information:
Member Companies will refer to information when they examine the continuation of an agreement with affiliate partners or registration of new affiliate partners, preventing the recurrence of fraudulent activities by closely monitoring or excluding affiliate partners considered likely to commit fraud.

Scope of the use of the shared information:
Japan Affiliate Service Kyokai and Member Companies

Information to be shared:
The following types of information will be used to identify affiliate partners that have committed fraud:
1) Name (company name) of affiliate partner
2) URL of registered website
3) e-mail address
4) Details of fraudulent activities
5) Industry of relevant advertisers
6) Seven-digit registered bank account number
7) Name of Member Company

To view the document (Japanese only), please visit the following website:

Shared Use of Information on Affiliate Partners That Have Committed Fraud
http://www.valuecommerce.ne.jp/privacy/jask.html

[ Japan Affiliate Service Kyokai ]
Japan Affiliate Service Kyokai was established on February 28, 2006 to promote educational activities for the affiliate marketing industry. It seeks to contribute to the sound development of the industry by encouraging affiliate service providers engage in open and fair information exchange and to make information available to other sectors. It also seeks to contribute to improving the satisfaction of consumers, affiliate partners and advertisers. There are seven corporate members: Adways, Interspace, Web-Shark, Traffic Gate, ValueCommerce, F@N Communications, and LinkShare Japan.