[pbh]

ezl does not seem to have gone all the way down the rabbit hole with the oDesk tracking link. (I work at oDesk, but not on this, so I was really curious.) After about 3 HTTP redirects, the www.dpbolvw.net link seems to turn into some sort of affiliate link. So my guess is that a (possibly errant, but presumably very data-driven) affiliate was the one sending him e-mail about oDesk, rather than oDesk itself.

That seems to raise a broader question, which is: to what extent should companies be blamed (and thus try to control) for the actions of the people in their affiliate programs? Would you be unhappy about a blog purporting to be by a cute ice cream eating girl filled with recommended books with Amazon affiliate links? What are the standards in this area, exactly? (On reload, see dabent's comment below as well.)