Here’s what to expect.

1. Because of partisan bickering, don’t expect a major overhaul of U.S. Internet privacy laws to be passed in this Congress. There will be a lot of holier-than-thou pronouncements by politicians (smoke but no fire).

2. Due to abuses of private information by a few websites, there’s a good chance that additional privacy laws will be passed in 2009 or 2010.

3. Major Internet sites (companies with teams of in-house lawyers) will try to structure the new legislation in such a way as to prevent competition by smaller Internet marketers. This will be spun by public relations departments as the companies’ efforts to protect consumers while totally ignoring the underlying anti-competitive agenda.

4. Assume that any legislation Congress considers to protect your privacy will in fact be ineffective, burdensome for entrepreneurs, and will not do a damn thing to actually prevent others from using your personal information.

Remember that most of the information online that you want to protect is already covered by existing laws. Someone misuses your credit card number? They can already be pursued under numerous federal and state statutes.

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.

So far, Kevin Wilke has provided a general overview of Quattro and how it integrates into the Blueprint System. This includes discussion of the Empty Box Principle of building your online business. Great to see how all of the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Not sure what type of info product will come out of this event (probably video, audio, and a manual), but Quattro certainly is the next step to complement the Blueprint System.

What’s kind of cool is that both I (as an attorney who practices Internet law) and my 12-year-old son (who started a dog niche site this year) are both able to apply the System to our websites.

Kevin also covered how to create an irresistible front end product — the best description of it I’ve seen over the years.

Looking forward to this afternoon when upsells are covered.

Understand that Matt Gill will be presenting tomorrow. My hunch is that he will be dealing with more of the technical issues. Stay tuned. Will post more. In the interim, be sure to check out the Nitro Blueprint System if you haven’t already done so. I own it, use it, and love it.

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.

Why?

Will be missing part of the World Internet Summit this month even though it is going to be held right here in Dallas, Texas. Held May 22nd-25th, this one is on my must-attend list. As soon as I’ve completed representing Internet law clients each day, you’ll see me there (and I’ll be bringing my 12-year-old son too - he’s having a blast marketing online).

Hopefully, you’ll have the flexibility to attend the entire event because of all the information that will be provided on Internet marketing and your networking opportunities with successful online entrepreneurs. This includes meeting Stephen Pierce. Here’s a video of Stephen discussing last year’s summit in Singapore. It will give you some idea of what’s in store for you this year.

To find out how you can attend (and I can’t believe how inexpensive the tickets are for this one), simply go to the World Internet Summit website.

Please note that these are not affiliate links. I simply want to make sure that you have the opportunity to attend too and hope to see you there. In fact, if you do register, send me an e-mail to let me know you’ll be there. Hope to see you at the summit!

For example, let’s say that you sell 70% of your products in the United States, 10% in Canada, 5% in the United Kingdom, and 5% in Australia.

You’re going to want to make sure that you’re not violating laws in these countries by the way you sell there. This means retaining a legal professional, such as an attorney or solicitor, who practices Internet law in each country that you sell to ensure that you’re not breaking the law.

If money is tight, you may want to start with the country where the largest amount of your sales comes from and then proceed to the next largest, etc. when doing the compliance checks. Although there are risks in this method, you’re minimizing them by going after the biggest potential problem markets first.

For a basic overview of website law in the United Kingdom, check out Website legal information: basic requirements. For a basic review of U.S. website requirements, there’s a 7-Step Website Legal Checklist. Of course, general information that you find on the Internet is not a substitute for professional legal advice.

If you’ve ever had legal problems doing business online in another country, feel free to leave a comment here about it.

Please note that this is not a sales pitch for my services. My law practice is referral-only. Unless referred by an existing client, you’re not eligible for consideration to become a new client.

If you are looking for an Internet lawyer, here are five tips that will help you based upon real world experience and expertise — not speculation.

1. Most business lawyers can handle Internet legal matters but chances are you will be paying for their education because they won’t have the solution right away. If you want them to draft legal documents, they’ll probably be starting from scratch on that too so you’ll be paying extra for that.

2. A lawyer whose practice is primarily or exclusively Internet law will probably save you money regardless of what his billable hour rate is because he already has a head start on providing the solutions you want based on prior experience. Unlike the general business lawyer, there’s an excellent chance he’s already done for others what you need so there won’t be a lot of wheel reinvention occurring.

3. If you’ve got documents that need to be drafted that won’t involve multiple revisions or negotiations with another party, look for an Internet attorney who is willing to do the work on a flat fee basis instead of by the billable hour.

4. Any attorney who practices Internet law should have a practice that includes as clients Internet marketers you’ve heard of and understands Internet marketing terminology when you use it. For example, if his eyes glaze over when you refer to a Google Slap, PPC, or a squeeze page, find another lawyer. He doesn’t need to be an Internet marketing expert but if he doesn’t understand what you do, you’ll be paying extra for him to learn (assuming he puts in the time to do so).

5. Note that there are different types of Internet attorneys. Some handle transactions and help put together deals for you. Others handle lawsuits. The skill set for being a trial lawyer is very different from that needed to be a good transactional attorney. This means that you’ll need a good Internet transactional attorney for most of your online business. If you want to go to court (or get sued), you’ll need a good Internet trial lawyer. Be very skeptical of an attorney who claims he can do both for you.

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).

You can read more about it at philly.com in Bob Fernandez’s article titled “Pennsylvania takes on online auctions.”

What to learn from her experience? Here are three lessons:

1. Vote with your feet by moving to a pro-business state.

2. The government is always looking for ways to control you through regulation and/or taxation.

3. Put the proper legal safeguards in place so that you don’t become the next victim of bureaucracy run amuck.

Let’s be clear at the outset: CBU isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme.

Founded by client Andrew Bourland, who has been around the Internet since the day after Al Gore invented it (just kidding), CBU has online classes taught by experienced instructors who have done well with affiliate marketing. What you’re getting is a practical how-to course for becoming an affiliate marketer.

Please note that this is not an affiliate link. I’m just recognizing a good online resource that you should check out, particularly if you haven’t yet developed a product of your own to sell online and are looking for a proven way to make income selling other people’s products. So check out the ClickBank University Blueprint for Success.

If you enroll and do something with what you learn, please let me know. I’m always interested in hearing results. If you’ve already enrolled and have implemented what you’ve learned, I’d like to hear from you too.

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