Myspace Sues 20+ Ad Networks For Over $500 Million

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Myspace CPA Empire etc.

I am a merchant/webmaster who does business with most of the CPA Networks including CPA Empire. I know that before being allowed to offer our product on CPA Empire's network our entire website was scrutinized in detail by their legal department and, in fact, we made a small change at their request to be absolutely sure we complied with every conceivable law. I have reviewed the lawsuit which was filed. My opinion is that it is poorly drafted and reads more like a press release than a lawsuit. I find it quite suspicious that MySpace is filing this lawsuit after they have been sued by parents of underage victims of sexual predators. I think this is simply a diversionary tactic by MySpace to change the subject. Isn't it interesting that they chose to sue instead of working with the networks to root out the offending affiliates and isolate them. This is PR pure and simple.

Just my opinion.

Coffeeman
 


coffeeman said:
I am a merchant/webmaster who does business with most of the CPA Networks including CPA Empire. I know that before being allowed to offer our product on CPA Empire's network our entire website was scrutinized in detail by their legal department and, in fact, we made a small change at their request to be absolutely sure we complied with every conceivable law. I have reviewed the lawsuit which was filed. My opinion is that it is poorly drafted and reads more like a press release than a lawsuit. I find it quite suspicious that MySpace is filing this lawsuit after they have been sued by parents of underage victims of sexual predators. I think this is simply a diversionary tactic by MySpace to change the subject. Isn't it interesting that they chose to sue instead of working with the networks to root out the offending affiliates and isolate them. This is PR pure and simple.

Just my opinion.

Coffeeman
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Interesting point
 
Too much overreacting

I doubt anyone will actually have to pay any money. Im sure the CPA networks involved will have to agree not to let their affiliates promote any offers via myspace and ban any that do.

This could take months though or even years to finalize. Fox is a huge company thah has much bigger legal priorities than this. Lawyers aren;t cheap and fox doesnt wan t to waste resources on tiny CPA companies.
 
DruSam said:
Oh man, I would have Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the Nation of Islam on your ass so quick you'd be broke and working as kmart security for the rest of your life!
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What makes you think I don't work security for the Big K right now?
 
Coffeeman,

Perhaps you don't know how laywers and big companies and especially big companies' lawyers work, but undoubtedly this is something they had in the works for a long time is extremely unlikely any kind of reactionary move to the other story you mentioned which just came to light a few days ago.

Not to mention this is not much of a diversionary story as the other story is national news, and MySpace fighting with affiliates not so much. Sure the spam angle might get played up, but they don't come close to being in the same stratosphere in terms of general public knowledge.

I suspect MySpace has begun to do something because spamming their business was hurting their business. Any half-way reasonable person would look for ways to protect their business if in the same circumstance. Since it would be very difficult to go after every single spammer directly, why not target the goal of those spammers, which in this case are the Affiliate networks, in many cases. Seems a pretty sound strategy to attack what is a pretty significant problem for Myspace.

As to what will happen, it is anyone's guess. Personally i have never played in that pool, and I sure would not go in there now. Even if the legal wranglings don't amount to much, the eventual outcome is inevitable and the spammers will suffer.

Many Affiliate Networks have enacted strong polciies in the past 6 months or so to not allow or support MySpace spamming. Some have not, and in some cases have actively solicited such activities.

I would say it would be incredibly foolish for any CPA/Affiliate network to not have strong policies against spamming sites like MySpace and others, at this point and time.
 
I don't work for CPA Empire

My opinions are based on my experiences as a coffee merchant. I have never worked for, owned, or managed a Network. I have also never been an affiliate. We roast very good coffee and ship it the same day to our customers. We also have good customer service. We are horrible at marketing and have just done the best we could and have dealt with small companies and large companies and have had mixed results with them. My conmpany's website is AshleyCooperCoffee.com. Oh....we do have an affiliate program with Shareasale... but it has never done too well. If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. :-)

coffeeman
 
coffeeman said:
My opinions are based on my experiences as a coffee merchant. I have never worked for, owned, or managed a Network. I have also never been an affiliate. We roast very good coffee and ship it the same day to our customers. We also have good customer service. We are horrible at marketing and have just done the best we could and have dealt with small companies and large companies and have had mixed results with them. My conmpany's website is AshleyCooperCoffee.com. Oh....we do have an affiliate program with Shareasale... but it has never done too well. If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. :-)

coffeeman
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How about running a contest with us here and offering lots of free coffee to the affiliates? Keep them wired and promoting.
 
coffeeman said:
My opinions are based on my experiences as a coffee merchant. I have never worked for, owned, or managed a Network. I have also never been an affiliate. We roast very good coffee and ship it the same day to our customers. We also have good customer service. We are horrible at marketing and have just done the best we could and have dealt with small companies and large companies and have had mixed results with them. My conmpany's website is AshleyCooperCoffee.com. Oh....we do have an affiliate program with Shareasale... but it has never done too well. If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. :-)

coffeeman
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What was your primary source of traffic with the affiliate program? What worked/what didn't?
 
I thought it was interesting after this was said during ASW how Scott Richter's profile in the ASW book said that he is a lawyer specializing in Internet Law....
 
I thought it was interesting that Mike Mathews of The Useful was telling people that he blew the whistle to MySpace and that he should receive a bonus for doing so. I seriously hope he didn't do something like that.
 
blew the whistle? Do you really need to blow the whistle on hundreds of thousands or even millions of phished accounts? I got all kinds of crap on my profile, my friends who were even computer literate got phished.
 
edls4475 said:
I thought it was interesting that Mike Mathews of The Useful was telling people that he blew the whistle to MySpace and that he should receive a bonus for doing so. I seriously hope he didn't do something like that.
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Yep, I heard that too from a few reliable sources. Heard he not only blew the whistle VOLUNTARILY without even being apart of the mess, but that he went on a ratting out spree. Stupid of him too, because he may still get fucked due to the fact that he paid for the leads knowing full well that they were generated through myspace spam. Whoops! Hey Mike, did that information come with a bottle of lube? Because you are about to get fucked in the ass. Idiot.

The Useful should now be known as The Useless.
 
Good. I have about 25,000 friends on my band page and you can't even imagine how many, "Click this link" or "The coolest site ever" comments I get a day haha. It's funny when you get the same comment 5 times in a row from entirely different people.

I can't believe all the profiles they've jacked. Even a few of my personal friends now spam my page lol...
 
PlanetAndrea said:
I thought it was interesting after this was said during ASW how Scott Richter's profile in the ASW book said that he is a lawyer specializing in Internet Law....
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That was for Steve Richter, Scott's dad. He's the "President and General Counsel of Media Breakaway".
 
What a great idea!

Jon said:
How about running a contest with us here and offering lots of free coffee to the affiliates? Keep them wired and promoting.
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Jon, we are a family run business and would LOVE some advice, suggestions, and anything else of a marketing nature we can learn. Obviously there are many experienced folks here. I am up for a contest. My coffee will definitely keep everyone wired.. not sure about the promoting:-)

Anyone have any suggestions for a contest?

Thanks for the suggestion.

coffeeman
 
Myspace spam wont go away as a result of this. It is like email spam or telemarketing. As long as you have a large group of people connected by a network there will be spammers who infiltrate that network. Nothing can stop it. Instead people will learn to cope with it.
 
********Official Word From CPAEmpire *****





Dear Affiliates and Advertisers:
As most of you are aware, MySpace issued a press release in which they made allegations against Scott Richter (“Richter either phished MySpace accounts himself or acquired a list of phished accounts to launch spam campaigns”). To date, we have not been served with a Complaint nor have we seen a copy of the Complaint. As you can imagine, it is difficult to intelligently respond to a press release.
However, we want you to know that both Scott and the Company absolutely and unequivocally believe that the allegations are untrue and without merit. In fact, months ago we were contacted by MySpace and were asked to cooperate with them in identifying affiliates who were not following MySpace terms of use. We fully cooperated with MySpace and immediately terminated a few affiliates who had been identified by MySpace as violating their terms of use, as well as ours. We pledged our continuing cooperation to MySpace and never heard from them again.
We find it extremely coincidental that the press release was issued just as the media was reporting that MySpace was served with lawsuits alleging misconduct on their part which led to the physical harm of their members.
With that said, we ask for your continuing support while we wait to find out what the issues are in this case. As we believe we did not do anything improper, we will vigorously defend ourselves and let the justice system be the final fact finder, as it should.
From 2001 to 2006 we had our fair share of adversity and during that same time period we had five record breaking years in a row. And if the beginning of this year is any indicator for the rest of 2007, the success will continue for us and you, our valued affiliates and advertisers. However, one record we do not plan on breaking is honoring our contractual and financial commitments.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding this or any other matter. Thank you.
Cordially,
Steven S. Richter
President and General Counsel
303-920-7941
Steve@MediaBreakaway.com
 
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