tracking code for affiliate and merchant programs

I am the president of an online business that recruits merchants' products to be promoted on my site. I promote the merchants products in return for a commission on the sale of the product. While this seems like a simple affiliate arrangement, most merchants do not have affiliate programs and tracking software. I am looking for a programming solution that will allow me to put unique identifying code on my visitors computer in order to track them should they visit the merchants site and purchase a product. Moreover, my agreements with merchants state that I will be paid for all visits within a 90 day period. The major hurdle is that the merchant would appear to have control over the code and can potentially tamper with, or remove it to avoid paying a commission. If this was not a enough of a problem, surveys show that "cookies" are being disabled at an alarming rate. It does not appear that this is a reliable way to track a person since so many people have disable them. I do understand, that Macromedia Flash has some additional capabilities. This is your challenge! ## Deliverables 1) Complete and fully-functional working program(s) in executable form as well as complete source code of all work done. 2) Deliverables must be in ready-to-run condition, as follows (depending on the nature of the deliverables): a) For web sites or other server-side deliverables intended to only ever exist in one place in the Buyer's environment--Deliverables must be installed by the Seller in ready-to-run condition in the Buyer's environment. b) For all others including desktop software or software the buyer intends to distribute: A software installation package that will install the software in ready-to-run condition on the platform(s) specified in this bid request. 3) All deliverables will be considered "work made for hire" under U.S. Copyright law. Buyer will receive exclusive and complete copyrights to all work purchased. (No GPL, GNU, 3rd party components, etc. unless all copyright ramifications are explained AND AGREED TO by the buyer on the site per the coder's Seller Legal Agreement). ## Platform * Perl/CGI * PHP * Javascript * Flash * Script Installation