Gator Corporation is now Claria Corporation, don’t be fooled

Shortly after its creation in 1998, the company began distributing a browser plug-in that millions of people use to automatically fill in Web forms and passwords. That business is supported through the sale of advertising, which is targeted to specific users by monitoring their behavior as they surf the Web.

Claria later spun off the ad business, called GAIN, so it could support other third-party plug-ins and build up the number of Web surfers in its ad network. As a result, it also created a large Internet advertising research and analysis unit.

“We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers,” CEO and President Jeff McFadden said in a statement.

AS of now, it only looks like the name of the company has changed and not the game. Claria is working to disassociate itself from the term spyware but so far it is only by slight of hand and legal motions, changing the name of the company.

Claria is also fighting to disassociate itself from the term “spyware.” In recent weeks, it launched a legal offensive to divorce its name from the hated term, with some success. In response to a libel lawsuit, antispyware company PC Pitstop has settled with Gator and pulled Web pages critical of the company, its practices and its software.

Claria operates three units. GAIN Publishing includes the Gator software and provides support to other software companies such as video compression company DivXNetworks. GAIN Network is the division that delivers targeted pop-up advertisements to 38 million people who use GAIN Publishing software. Feedback Research provides online research and Web analytics based on data from its ad network.

Source: CNET News