Although one can question the wisdom of going to Singapore and daring the authorities to do something in response, the fact that a blogger has been arrested for “insulting a public servant” in an email is unconscionable. Many public servants deserve criticism for incompetence and/or corruption. Although there are good judges and elected officials, too often these positions go to those who cannot compete in the real world and seek to live off the public trough through political patronage.

As for the Singapore officials who arrested Nair, their stupidity is an embarrassment to the civilized world. With a little luck, the blogosphere will rake these morons over the coals until they release the blogger.

And what’s the story with the U.S. Department of State? Why in the world are they putting up with this ridiculous arrest? Real diplomats with cojones would inform the Singapore government that Nair gets released immediately or the U.S. military will make an extraction and topple the idiots from power to secure his freedom. Less appeasement and more Teddy Roosevelt.

What are your thoughts?

At what point should we defer to absurd laws of other countries that suppress free speech on the Internet? If Nair can be arrested, why not you or me?

As a final note, this blog post contains multiple insults to Singapore public officials. Please feel free to issue a warrant for my arrest. I won’t be visiting your country until you respect free speech rights.

This particular marketer is smart but don’t confuse intelligence with ethics. He’s the moral equivalent of a spammer.

What did he do?

He sold a product online for below market value (warning bells should be going off - what’s the catch?). The sales letter didn’t mention a continuity program.

When you clicked the order button, it took you to a page to fill out your payment information.

What most people wouldn’t notice was that below the order information there was a small box that indicated a “bonus” free trial of the marketer’s monthly continuity program.

Unless you unchecked a small prechecked box below your payment information, you would automatically be enrolled in the program and would have your credit card hit monthly after the trial period.

The program itself wasn’t even described so that you could make an informed decision as to whether it was worthwhile.

If you’ve got a good enough continuity program, you don’t need to hide it. In addition to the legal issues, that’s a sound piece of business advice. A continuity program should be able to stand on its own merits as something that your customers would want to buy. If it has to be hidden, chances are it is cr@p.

What about affiliate marketers who promote for marketers who engage in deceptive business practices?

Most of them don’t even know the continuity programs exist. They’re promoting for the affiliate commission check and/or based upon a misplaced trust in the Internet marketer who created the hidden program. What about performing due diligence?

In fact, none of the affiliate emails that I receive piking this stuff ever discloses that the purchase of product X is tied to hidden continuity program Y and that there will be monthly billing instead of a one-time purchase.

I’ll probably get some flack for revealing that the hidden continuity emperor has no clothes or daring to suggest that affiliates check out products and services before promoting them. But that’s okay. Better you hear about it from me than from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) knocking at your door.

What do you think?

Have continuity programs gone too far?

Should affiliates be held liable for pitching programs that violate the law? And what about the marketers who create these deceptive programs?

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* Internet consumer protection tip – If a marketer is trying to sell you something online and uses either his religion or family as a way to persuade you that he’s honest, grab your wallet and run the other way.

If you’re doing word-of-mouth marketing, you should be concerned with the directive and the regulations promulgated to enforce it.

Why?

Your new duties include not to treat consumers “unfairly.” And if you do treat them unfairly, you can end up paying fines or even going to prison.

Here’s one unfair practice that is going to land many Internet marketers in hot water:

“Falsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession, or falsely representing oneself as a consumer.”

Do you think that creating consumer review sites without disclosing affiliate status will be considered unfair under this provision? I do.

Here’s another one.

“the commercial practice fails to identify its commercial intent, unless this is already apparent from the context”

How many e-mails sent to Internet marketing lists would violate this provision? Every day, you get swamped with affiliate e-mails piking the latest guru product or service but never disclosing that the recommendations are made at least in part because of the affiliate commissions the sender hopes to receive.

You might think that you have nothing to worry about because you don’t live in the United Kingdom.

However, do any of the consumers who visit your website live there? What about those on your e-mail list? Chances are you’ve got United Kingdom visitors who are protected by these new regulations. And more importantly, you have no idea whether you’ll be prosecuted for violating the law.

You can also expect the U.S. Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) within the next few years to create new laws and implement similar regulations as part of cleaning up Internet marketing under the guise of protecting consumers.

You can learn more about the United Kingdom regulations by reading the Draft Statutory Instrument: Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Of course, there’s a mathematical formula behind the score they sell but the number you receive bears no relationship to the real number the exact same credit reporting agency will sell to actual and prospective creditors.

What does this mean to you in the real world?

Let’s say that you buy your credit score online and the number you get is a 680. The number sold to a credit card company, an auto dealer, a prospective mortgage lender, or even a potential landlord might actually be in the 500s. That’s the difference between getting a decent rate on a loan and not even qualifying for one!

Like 3-card monte, you’re being played by credit reporting agencies.

The real number that you want to look at is your FICO score, but as explained by Aleksandra Todorova in Not All Credit Scores Created Equal, even your FICO score can vary depending upon the type of creditor buying the information.

Quite frankly, it is amazing that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hasn’t stepped in and made these clowns actually report your real FICO number, including any variations of it so that you know what you’re dealing with the next time you apply for credit.

In fact, if you’ve been deceived when buying your credit report online, be sure to file a complaint with the FTC about it.

Her parents should be ashamed for pimping out their daughter for the photos. Is she auditioning to replace Britney Spears as the next train wreck?

If you’ve ever posed for embarrassing photos or videos and then discovered that they’ve been posted online without your permission, you’re not alone. These are typically the result of too much alcohol or trusting a spouse or lover to keep things private.

What should you do?

Approach the website’s owner and ask that the offending material be removed immediately. If the owner refuses, contact the website’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) and make the same request. Unless you’ve signed away your rights on paper, you should be able to make a strong case that you own the copyright to the material, did not give your permission for it to be posted, and that your privacy has been invaded.

You should also consult at least one attorney to protect your legal rights (if you’re married to the person who posted the material, you’ll probably want to see a divorce attorney in addition to an Internet lawyer).

Unless your name and contact details are attached online to the offending material, there’s a good chance that what is personally embarrassing to you won’t really hurt you over the long-term.

Why? A Google image search for “porn” produces 33.4 million results. What happened to you is a needle in this online haystack. It is very unlikely that those who know you will ever see the content.

Remember that prevention is the key in most of these cases. This means: (1) don’t ever agree to pose for the videos or photos under any circumstances - even if you trust the person who wants to create them; and (2) if you already have posed for pics or videos you don’t want online, destroy them now to ensure they will never be posted on the Internet.

Who is Perry Belcher? A look at Perry’s Linked-in profile will give you some idea of his prior successes online. From what I can tell, he’s a very talented individual who made some poor choices.

Perry has been charged with computer fraud, imitation of a licensed professional, and deceptive business practices. This was the result of an investigation by federal, state, and local government agencies. You can read about it in the press release issued by the sheriff’s department after his arrest.

Sadly, there are many Internet marketers pushing the envelope with conduct as illegal as what Perry is alleged to have done (remember that an arrest alone doesn’t mean he’s guilty).

Shady small-time operators think they’ll fly under the radar and won’t get caught. Many act out of desperation when their online businesses aren’t making any/enough money.

Large marketers listen to their egos and believe they’re invincible because they’re better at screwing people over than those who do get busted.

If you have a friend who has crossed the line with their Internet marketing practices, share the story of Perry Belcher with them. Maybe you’ll get them to stop in time before they get caught. Don’t accuse your friend of wrongdoing. Just pass along the story and let them draw their own conclusions.

If you’ve ever dealt with Perry, please post a comment here describing what happened (good or bad).

Don’t accept unethical conduct by rationalizing that “everyone is doing it” or that it is the “key to becoming wealthy online.” Both are false. There are plenty of successful Internet entrepreneurs who run honorable businesses.

Here are 4 warning signs that an Internet marketer is a filthy pig that you should avoid.

1. The Internet marketer uses deceptive sales practices. Although intentional spamming is a great example, there’s a new one on the block. Some marketers are hiding their continuity programs in the fine print of their sales letters, and you’re suddenly getting billed monthly after making what you thought was a one-time purchase.

2. The Internet marketer treats his customers like dupes instead of people he wants to see succeed. Instead of trying to help, he’s trying to see how he can con his list yet another time.

3. The Internet marketer believes he is a celebrity. Although unknown outside of the info product arena, the Internet marketer gets an inflated ego after 1 or 2 product launches. Behavioral changes include wearing gaudy jewelry, leasing luxury sports cars he can’t afford, mistreating the “little people” (anyone he doesn’t know) because they don’t matter, and insisting on special perqs because of who he is (a legend in his own mind).

4. The Internet marketer abuses religion as a sales tool. Marketers who are ethical don’t make a big deal about their religion while speaking at events. They believe that actions speak louder than words. In contrast, pig sty marketers typically shroud themselves in religion, making repeated references to their church, mosque, or synagogue as a way to deceive you into thinking they will treat you right.

I’m sure there are more warning signs that you’re dealing with a pig sty marketer, but these are the ones that came to mind. If you can think of any, please add them as comments (don’t use the names or URLs of particular marketers in the comments).

In principle, this is a great concept. But as a practical matter, there’s the security concerns. From hackers to the occasional bank employee with sticky fingers, there’s a risk that what you store online, encrypted or not, will find its way into the hands of someone who wants to steal your identity or worse. Just take a look at the number of stories in recent years about credit card numbers being stolen from supposedly secure sites.

Please note that I’m not picking on Wells Fargo — just highly skeptical that the convenience factor of digital storage will outweigh the security risks. Hopefully, Wells Fargo will live up to its reputation and protect critical data with vSafe.

I’ll take a wait-and-see approach. If you try vSafe, let me know your experience.

Hat tip to the Associated Press.

Although I’m not advocating that any laws be broken, it would be a very good thing if more computers, digital cameras, mp3 recorders, and memory sticks found their way into the hands of the Cuban people.

This isn’t a matter of imposing a U.S. style government on Cuba. Instead, you’re providing information for people to make informed decisions as to where they want to take a Free Cuba post-Castro.

If you want to make a difference, support Cubans who are risking their lives to see what we take for granted.

Hat tip to the NY Times.

It gets worse. Even though the subpoena was withdrawn, the reason for the withdrawal is that the government found the customer information it needed on the seller’s computer. This means that if you bought from that seller a used book, the government knows what you bought even though it has absolutely nothing to do with tax fraud.

I’m not condoning tax evasion. That’s not the point.

The line has been crossed in e-commerce. If the government can seize records to identify your online book purchases, what not other purchases too? Say goodbye to personal privacy.