3 Comments

Azoogle Contributes a Million Dollars to Florida

Nov 14, 2007
by

Sometimes a cool million does make things go away. A great example is Azoogle’s recent voluntary contribution to the Florida’s Department of Legal Affairs. The contribution came when the CyberFraud Task Force came knocking on Azoogle’s door for lead generation practices that fooled consumers into signing up for paid services without clear consent. Azoogle was quick to give generously, saying:

“This contribution reinforces AzoogleAds’ commitment to improving industry standards in the fight against fraudulent and deceptive internet advertising.”

Consumers will be glad to know that as part of Azoogle’s commitment to improving standards “free” ringtones will now cost them $9.99 per month. Think of it simply as Azoogle’s way of saying to Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum “Hey, what’s a few ringtones among friends?”

One wonders if Azoogle will be equally generous with the FTC who is conducting its own separate investigation. Here’s hoping they continue their charitable ways. After all, with the price of doing business being so cheap why not spread the cheer during the holidays?

Filed under: Security Issues
  • http://www.rhinofish.com Pat Grady

    Politicians are so used to solving problems with only money that they've lost their sense of right and wrong.

    Pragmatically, settling cases is easier, but it leaves the perpetrators relatively free to continue bad acting – and it means there's no standards of behavior for others doing the same. The problem isn't solved, it's just temporarily white washed. If our leaders make cheating an ROI metric, they're selling us out.

    When people tell me that the Internet is the new Wild West, I add these exceptions… the Wild West had marshalls and sheriffs that weren't a bunch of sissy wimps, they actually punished wrong doing, unlike this Attorney General… and angry land owners (today's website owners and merchants) had rights that the law allowed them to protect on their own… and they weren't passively timid about doing so.

    So this ain't like the Wild West at all, or some lynch mob would have strung up Azoogle by now.

  • http://www.PaulsonManagementgroup.com Heather Paulson

    Hello Angel,

    ROFL – Great post!

  • http://www.medicaltravelsite.com geomark

    Let's not forget some affiliates who made very big money riding the deceptive ringtone promotion bandwagon. There are a lot of fanboys (and girls) who hang on every word from a few of those snakes. I have no respect for people who make money through dishonest means.