I've dealt with skimlinks for some time in the affiliate programs I manage. In general, they have been always forthright and above-board, so imho the brouhaha a

I've dealt with skimlinks for some time in the affiliate programs I manage. In general, they have been always forthright and above-board, so imho the brouhaha about this is overblown (at least in regards to them). The ones who do deserve a bit of ire is Pinterest. While they do indeed have the right to do it without notifying you, I would say that the prudent thing to do would be to notify users. Doing it this way is more indicative of a "ask forgiveness instead of permission" philosophy, which can cause far more problems in the long run and calls their trustworthiness into question.