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Get Paid to Surf the Internet?
The ins and outs of Pay-to-Surf programs ...
by Sandra Underhill
ComputerBits.com

Are there really programs that actually pay surfers to cruise the Internet, read email or chat online for hours on end?

The short answer is yes!

The long answer is also yes, but be prepared to jump through a few hoops and experience a few surprises before you can grab that promised paycheck!

Pay to Surf programs are new to the Internet. In most, advertisers pay a marketing company to have ads appear on Web surfers' screens while they are browsing. The marketing company pays the surfers to watch the advertising on their desktops.

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However, others view the programs as annoyances, threats to privacy, or just plain scams. Not everyone wants to have advertisements constantly entering their visual field. The programs slow down the server and require constant communication with the ad server.

The whole scheme depends on advertisers pouring money into the system, and it's starting to look like that well is not bottomless. Also, there's some question as to whether people who are paid to participate in the furious click through race are the kind of motivated leads advertisers want.

Someone Can't Lose
But it's an interesting scheme. Even if the Pay to Surf businesses go under, they've amassed a large data base of members' personal information that can conceivably be sold later to another agency. These data are linked to street addresses, since PO boxes are not allowed by ANY of the Pay to Surf programs.

The other personal data amassed may be from pre-set hint questions, such as what elementary school did you attend? A social security number is required to request payment, and that is of course another juicy addition to the data base.

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