Ms. CrackerHead
12-31-2009, 02:30 AM
*Before you read this, just note that I am posting this as a warning due to the fact that your weight loss pictures ARE viewable by guests and I think they should not be! They should be protected at least from this kind of situation where guests can steal them for who knows what purpose. Let's suggest to the board that they make them viewable only to the members! And then maybe I'll post some, too! ;)*
Weight loss ad steals Denver dieter's pictures
posted by: Sara Gandy Deborah Sherman 58 days ago
DENVER - Christine Montemayor lost 130 pounds on the South Beach Diet. But she soon learned that her loss was someone else's gain.
A Web site stole her before-and-after-pictures, claiming she had shed her weight using a supplement called Acai Berry.
"People are giving them money because of me. Without my permission," Denver resident Montemayor said. "Someone thinks that what I did can happen with Acai Berry."
Montemayor discovered her weight-loss pictures on the ads after a South Beach supporter e-mailed her and complained.
"She was actually kind of upset in the message. She's like, 'What are you doing? Are you selling your pictures around? This is awful.' And I emailed her back and said 'I have no idea what you're talking about. I would never do that," she said.
On one ad, the business changed Montemayor's name to Brittany from Denver who lost 36 pounds. In another ad, her named was changed to Jillian Rogers from Denver who lost 52 pound with Acai Berry.
"It talks about how I have three children, I don't have three children," Montemayor said. "It said I had lost 57 pounds, in reality I've lost 130 pounds. The whole thing was completely fake."
She called the advertiser, Biolabs in South Florida, to complain. But the company never returned her calls. 9Wants to Know tracked down the distributor, FWM Laboratories in Fort Lauderdale. The company's attorney says it is a victim like Christine.
That's because it hired several smaller businesses, called 'affiliates,' to advertise their products and push traffic to their Web site. The affiliates earn pennies for every click or sale on the Web site. The affiliates are supposed to follow FTC regulations against unfair and deceptive trade practices, but some do not.
"FWM does not condone this affiliates behavior... FWM never requested or even permitted this type of advertising to be posted in a way that would direct traffic to FWM," attorney Bradley Gross who represents FWM Labs said. "This is improper behavior by the affiliate... and from FWM's point of view, this type of stuff makes the whole industry look very bad."
Gross says FWM contacted the affiliate network company and ordered payments to be stopped to the guilty affiliate. It is almost impossible to determine the responsible people behind the advertising because they hide behind ever-changing Web site companies, Gross said.
Some Web sites claim they are sponsored by the Chef Rachael Ray or touted by Oprah or Dr. Phil. But if you read the fine print located somewhere on the Web sites, it reads, "Celebrities neither endorse nor sponsor any of the products and/or services."
"You simply can't take someone else's picture and use it for commercial purposes without their permission. And that is what many affiliates do," Gross said. "It usually ends up driving a great deal of traffic to the Web site. It often succeeds so that's a profit motive for the affiliates to do that."
Meantime, Montemayor is wondering how long her pictures will be on the Internet. She worked hard to lose her weight, but there's no way she can take off the false claims.
"It never occurred to me that anyone would do anything negative with the pictures. It never occurred to me to copyright them," Montemayor said.
Experts say the only way to protect your photos online is to not post them at all. However, using watermarks or a tool called 'shrink-wrapping' makes it more difficult for someone to claim the picture as their own.
Congress is now considering legislation that would regulate some online advertising. Since most people don't realize the web companies are tracking their online habits in order to target direct advertising at them, the bill by Rep. Rich Boucher, D-Va., would let consumers know what information is being collected about them and give them a choice to not be tracked.
If you have any news tips, please e-mail 9Wants to Know Investigative Reporter Deborah Sherman at 9NEWS.com
(Copyright KUSA*TV, All Rights Reserved)
Weight loss ad steals Denver dieter's pictures
posted by: Sara Gandy Deborah Sherman 58 days ago
DENVER - Christine Montemayor lost 130 pounds on the South Beach Diet. But she soon learned that her loss was someone else's gain.
A Web site stole her before-and-after-pictures, claiming she had shed her weight using a supplement called Acai Berry.
"People are giving them money because of me. Without my permission," Denver resident Montemayor said. "Someone thinks that what I did can happen with Acai Berry."
Montemayor discovered her weight-loss pictures on the ads after a South Beach supporter e-mailed her and complained.
"She was actually kind of upset in the message. She's like, 'What are you doing? Are you selling your pictures around? This is awful.' And I emailed her back and said 'I have no idea what you're talking about. I would never do that," she said.
On one ad, the business changed Montemayor's name to Brittany from Denver who lost 36 pounds. In another ad, her named was changed to Jillian Rogers from Denver who lost 52 pound with Acai Berry.
"It talks about how I have three children, I don't have three children," Montemayor said. "It said I had lost 57 pounds, in reality I've lost 130 pounds. The whole thing was completely fake."
She called the advertiser, Biolabs in South Florida, to complain. But the company never returned her calls. 9Wants to Know tracked down the distributor, FWM Laboratories in Fort Lauderdale. The company's attorney says it is a victim like Christine.
That's because it hired several smaller businesses, called 'affiliates,' to advertise their products and push traffic to their Web site. The affiliates earn pennies for every click or sale on the Web site. The affiliates are supposed to follow FTC regulations against unfair and deceptive trade practices, but some do not.
"FWM does not condone this affiliates behavior... FWM never requested or even permitted this type of advertising to be posted in a way that would direct traffic to FWM," attorney Bradley Gross who represents FWM Labs said. "This is improper behavior by the affiliate... and from FWM's point of view, this type of stuff makes the whole industry look very bad."
Gross says FWM contacted the affiliate network company and ordered payments to be stopped to the guilty affiliate. It is almost impossible to determine the responsible people behind the advertising because they hide behind ever-changing Web site companies, Gross said.
Some Web sites claim they are sponsored by the Chef Rachael Ray or touted by Oprah or Dr. Phil. But if you read the fine print located somewhere on the Web sites, it reads, "Celebrities neither endorse nor sponsor any of the products and/or services."
"You simply can't take someone else's picture and use it for commercial purposes without their permission. And that is what many affiliates do," Gross said. "It usually ends up driving a great deal of traffic to the Web site. It often succeeds so that's a profit motive for the affiliates to do that."
Meantime, Montemayor is wondering how long her pictures will be on the Internet. She worked hard to lose her weight, but there's no way she can take off the false claims.
"It never occurred to me that anyone would do anything negative with the pictures. It never occurred to me to copyright them," Montemayor said.
Experts say the only way to protect your photos online is to not post them at all. However, using watermarks or a tool called 'shrink-wrapping' makes it more difficult for someone to claim the picture as their own.
Congress is now considering legislation that would regulate some online advertising. Since most people don't realize the web companies are tracking their online habits in order to target direct advertising at them, the bill by Rep. Rich Boucher, D-Va., would let consumers know what information is being collected about them and give them a choice to not be tracked.
If you have any news tips, please e-mail 9Wants to Know Investigative Reporter Deborah Sherman at 9NEWS.com
(Copyright KUSA*TV, All Rights Reserved)