Grey Hat Hacker

    Grey Hat Hacker

The vast majority of Internet Marketers and individual SEO’s wear the Grey Hat.  Some might argue that they’re more White than Grey, but they’re frequently wrong.  Most of them lean toward the Black hat without even realizing it.  Think of it this way.  Doing anything illegal makes you Black Hat.  Have you downloaded software without paying for it?   Have you created any fake testimonials?  Both those are illegal you know.

Doing anything against the rules of a particular website or company, but not quite illegal, changes your hat to Grey.

For example:

• Buying or selling links
• Spamming forums or comments for links
• Sneaky redirects in ads
• Adsense arbitrage
• Affiliate cookie stuffing
• Misleading advertising – Punch the Monkey and WIN!
• Fake Social Media accounts
• Nothing illegal

The vast majority of Affiliate Marketers fall into this category, and I’ve learned that the majority of those tend towards the Dark Grey Hat.  As long as it’s not illegal, they’ll do it.  If you’re a company that has an affiliate program, beware!  Most of your affiliates are actively looking for ways to screw you.

Shades of Grey

You’d be hard pressed to find a single affiliate marketer that wasn’t at least slightly Grey Hat.  Heck, I hate scams and false advertising as much as the next guy, but I’ve created some fake Social Media accounts in my day just to post links.

The question is where to draw the line?  At what point does a Light Grey Hat slide to a Dark Grey Hat?

What do you think?