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#1 (permalink)
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BREAKING NEWS!
This is not a rumor. This is 100% confirmed. Today there were as many as 4-5 subpoenas served to AFFILIATES who promoted Acai Berry offers and are based in the state of Illinois. UPDATED 06/04/09: All of the affiliates that were served with subpoenas are Illinois based, and were allegedly using Oprah in their ads, on Facebook only. All were shown information that could have only been attained via a subpoena of Facebook. The Illinois attorney general subpoena has requests for financial information, campaign information, tracking information, networks and advertisers tied to the campaigns, etc. So they are obviously following the typical AG investigating protocol. Still strange enough to see them going after affiliates first and then working their way up, as its usually the opposite. But this is shaping up to become a big mess as I've been told by other state AG's that they are very interested in following this investigation and very likely will begin their own or a possible joint investigation (lets hope it doesn't get to that). The affiliates involved have asked to remain anonymous, so please keep people's names to yourselves if you can, and respect their privacy wishes for a change. Bottom line, this is being fueled by Oprah/her lawyers, Illinois AG, Facebook + FTC partnership. There have been rumors from the Harpo camp close to the Facebook/Acai advertiser subpoenas that Myspace/Newscorp was to be subpoenaed for advertiser account information too, but this has not been confirmed or commented on by anyone from Newscorp or the Illinois AG as of yet. For privacy reasons I will not name any of the affiliates who were subpoenaed today, but this came as a pretty big shock as the Illinois Attorney General had some pretty in-depth knowledge of the people involved, more so than usual. UPDATED 06/04/09: I still strongly believe there is an industry insider ratting, but its my opinion and I'll just keep it to myself now as I'm not out to destroy anyone's reputation without 100% definitive proof. Lets see how it plays out unfortunately. This is the first time that a state attorney general has gone after ONLY the largest affiliates, one by one, as if they were reading it off of a numbered hit list. Before you even ask, yes, most of the guys on the list are members here. If they want to come out and speak about it, that's up to them, so please don't turn this into a rumor mill or witch hunt. I've got most of their names confirmed and confirmation from an anonymous source with the Illinois Attorney Generals office that this is in fact quite real. The only good side of it is that they don't seem to be seeking out any jail time, just civil action. I can absolutely assure you that this is not going to be the last time we see any of this happen, as there is an unconfirmed suit by another state AG finishing up and getting ready to go after a handful of advertisers and networks, but no affiliates that I know of. UPDATED 06/04/09: Boutique affiliate/agency Bloosky was hit with a suit from the AG in Utah on Tuesday over their Google bizopp (whatever the name is, they all sound the same), so not Acai related, but still interesting, will make a seperate thread about this later. It doesn't look like anything very serious either and will most likely be settled out of court quickly. I know for a fact that there is no mention of affiliates in this at all, it seems to be more about customer complaints who couldn't figure out how to cancel/refund (typical, they know how to file with the AG but can't figure out how to call for a refund).
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Last edited by Jon; 06-04-2009 at 09:14 PM.. |
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#2 (permalink) |
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American, born and bred.
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Quick question, in case anyone knows... I've been wondering for a while now. In the event something like this happens, does the fault go below the affiliates as well, to the designers and copywriters? I make it a point to *try* to cover my own a** whenever possible, because I'm not interested in being involved with a suit....
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#7 (permalink) | ||
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#11 (permalink) | |
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They aren't being sued yet.. they were subpeonad for their financials, tracking, campaigns, etc.. After the AG looks over that wonderful stuff then they'll probably make up their mind on who is being sued for what. I'm not familiar with Illinois state law, but I think thats how the general process of it works. I've never been subpoenaed myself so I couldn't tell ya from experience. (thankfully for a change!)
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Last edited by Jon; 06-04-2009 at 09:16 PM.. Reason: spelling - its subpoenaed - oops! |
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#13 (permalink) | |
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good thing I'm in the southeast where they just learned what craigslist is
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#14 (permalink) |
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dullspace.
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Wild shit. Do keep us updated with whatever you can tell us, 'eh Jon.
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#15 (permalink) |
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Veritas Aequitas
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Wow... I was wondering if something like this would ever happen. You have no idea how many complaint e-mails I get for hosting Acai sites. There are a lot of pissed off people out there.
With that said, I've ignored every complaint e-mail I've ever received. * I really hope none of my clients are part of this. I really don't want to be involved at all...
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#17 (permalink) |
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Senior Member
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Can you say "obstruction of justice" boys and girls?
I knew you could! ( 1604565551 : 9781604565553:Obstruction of Justice )
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Open to Barter - PM to Discuss Newbies: Scut Work for Mentoring Writers: Content for Tech Work |
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#20 (permalink) | |
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dullspace.
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That said, a. I am not a lawyer and b. the law is not very smart, so who knows. Edit: but seriously, for those named: good luck bros.
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#22 (permalink) | |
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Veritas Aequitas
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Edit: I just read the part where Jon said it was almost all super-affiliates. Nevermind, we definitely don't host any super-affiliates.
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#25 (permalink) |
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Senior Member
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Get good lawyers and quash the crap of them.
Tracking data probably contains ip address and other identifiable information as well as the search habits of the users. It could be a major breach of privacy to reveal this information. Campaign data could probably be classified as trade secrets. If you have a particularly large amount of data they want, you could request more time. Then take that time and think of more reasons to quash. If you are unable to quash it, I would print it out on as many pages as I could get away with. Somewhere along the lines of tens of thousands of pages would be good. Get creative. Can this thread be moved to someplace that you need to login to see?
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мейкманиесонлайн |
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#26 (permalink) |
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dullspace.
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This is VERY important.
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#27 (permalink) |
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Senior Member
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haters gonna hate
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#29 (permalink) | |
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Member
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Seriously, why are people coming into this thread, on a public forum, and talking about deleting records, moving offshore, and 'covering their asses', all the while toting sigs to personal sites and blogs. How retarded are you guys? |
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#30 (permalink) |
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Senior Member
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about as retarded as you will ever be
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#32 (permalink) |
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Senior Member
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^^ stfu noob!
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#34 (permalink) |
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Developer & Consultant
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Aside from earnings being made public (as most records do end up being after being used in a suit, but I guess it depends), would there be any reason why affiliates would be sought to pay fines if the main company is the one at fault, and the affiliates only published what the advertiser said was true?
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#36 (permalink) |
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Senior Member
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-rep
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#37 (permalink) | |
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Senior Member
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That's alot of super affiliates from one state if thats true. OR what is considered a "super affiliate" has a much lower level of entry than what I consider "super affiliate" to mean. The reason I ask is two fold. First, its important to know if the Illinois AD is ONLY going after residents of Illinois. Second, what is the threshold? 1k/week? 10k/week? 25k/week? And if they had all the personal information then, yes, it does sound like they had an informant(s). OR a network. That would make ALOT more sense. |
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#41 (permalink) |
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Banned
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it'll be interested to see how this plays out. there are so many parts of the law that come together in AM. im assuming that the AG can only go after affiliates for misleading consumers in their own states because the federal government has the right to regular interstate commerce.
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#45 (permalink) |
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Member
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Acai weight loss > Illinois > Attorney General > Oprah > Supeona
I'd take any reference to Oprah off my landing pages just to be safe. "We are pursuing unauthorized uses of Ms. Winfrey's name associated to acai-based products, none of which she has endorsed," said Don Halcombe, a spokesman for Harpo Inc., Ms. Winfrey's production company. Chicago-based Harpo is turning over complaints about such items to the Illinois attorney general's office, Mr. Halcombe said in a telephone interview. |
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#47 (permalink) | |
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I love midgets.
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Actually the any state AG can go after any affiliate any where if they think the affiliate has brought harm to a resident of their state. So all 30 may not be in the state of Illinois. Oprah's fat ass!
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#48 (permalink) | |
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The Truth About Oprah, Dr. Oz, Acai berry, MonaVie and Resveratrol - Oprah.com
careful with acai and resveratrol guys. Neither Oprah nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any specific resveratrol product, company or online solicitation of such products. Any companies that misrepresent their affiliation are making false claims. Harpo attorneys are pursuing companies that claim such an affiliation.
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| Tags |
| acai affiliate lawsuit, acai lawsuit, illinois ag, lolsuit, oprah the devil, oprahs still fat |
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