Tiger Blog Reviews

Posts Tagged ‘ftc’

Google’s empire hasn’t exactly crumbled, and to be honest, the average person will probably never even realize what’s happened.

Google-owned Blogger has added a new revenue generation option: direct integration with Amazon Associates to search Amazon’s product catalog and add links to products where Bloggers can earn commissions when their readers buy products they recommend. “Making it easy for our Associates to advertise relevant content on their websites is the foundation of the Amazon Associates program. Our goal is to help our Associates earn the trust of their followers by giving them the tools to search through the millions of products on Amazon and select those that are most relevant to their audience,” says Dave Cotter, General Manager of the Amazon Associates Program. “If you’re a Blogger and you’re writing about the new Michael Crichton book, ‘Pirate Latitudes,’ you simply highlight the text you want linked to Amazon, click on ‘Go’ in the Amazon Product Finder, and click ‘Insert link.’ Setting up Associates links to Amazon and earning referral fees is now that easy.” “This is something that Bloggers of all shapes and sizes will benefit from as they look for ways to add compelling content to their blogs and make money,” said Rick Klau, Product Manager for Blogger. “Our goal is to do more than simply give our bloggers the easiest tools in the market for creating blogs, it’s to make Blogger the easiest platform for bloggers to make money on. This integration is a testament to that commitment.” The timing of this partnership is somewhat interesting, as the FTC’s guidelines about disclosure recently went into effect. Klau does make it a point to encourage openness, however. “A quick note about trust: affiliate programs work well when readers trust you,” he says. “You should avoid promoting products simply because of the referral fee you might earn — readers may lose some of that trust if they sense your posts exist solely to make you money. You may also want to disclose to your readers that you will earn a commission on their purchase — some readers even prefer knowing that you benefit from their business.” Amazon Associates integration is not the only way Blogger offers its users to make money. Blogger has a “Monetize” tab in the Blogger app. Users can use AdSense of course, and they recently added AdSense for Feeds as an option.

The Federal Trade Commission released a report today that found minors can easily access sexually and violently explicit content in online virtual worlds. The congressionally mandated report, “Virtual Worlds and Kids: Mapping the Risks,” calls on operators of virtual worlds to take steps to keep explicit content away from children and teens, and recommends parents become familiar with the virtual worlds their kids visit. “It is far too easy for children and young teens to access explicit content in some of these virtual worlds,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “The time is ripe for these companies to grow up and implement better practices to protect kids.” The FTC examined 27 online virtual worlds including those geared toward young children, teens, and adults. The FTC found at least one instance of either sexually or violently explicit content in 19 of the 27 worlds. The FTC observed a heavy amount of explicit content in five of the virtual worlds studied, a moderate amount in four worlds, and only a low amount in the remaining 10 worlds in which explicit content was found. Among the 14 virtual worlds in the report that were open to children under age 13, seven featured no explicit content, six contained a low amount of such content, and one contained a moderate amount of content. Almost all of the explicit content found in the child-oriented virtual worlds appeared in the form of text posted in chat rooms, on message boards, or in forums. The report found a greater amount of explicit content in worlds that were geared toward teens or adults. Twelve of the 13 virtual worlds in this category contained explicit content, with a heavy amount observed in five worlds, a moderate amount in three worlds, and a low amount in four worlds. Half the explicit content found in the teen- and adult-oriented virtual worlds was text-based, while the other half appeared as graphics, occasionally with accompanying audio.

As Part of the Lionheart Assurance Scam Prevention Toolkit™

Lionheart Assurance Solutions warns of online phishing and spoofing scams. Lionheart Assurance Solutions says avoiding phishing and spoofing scams, frauds and ripoffs is a growing concerning among online users and it is of an important concern because it is now one of the #1 ways hackers and online cheats steal Net users’ identity. Many online scam artists and cheats are currently growing and so is there sophistication. They lurk on the World Wide Web to ripoff people; especially those who are just starting to get familiar with cyberspace. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission, FBI and Earthlink are warning Web users to be more cautious in using the Internet because there are many online cheats using spoofing or phishing tools to nab online users identity, which require sending fraudulent email that is disguised as a legitimate company or bank correspondence email in order to get recipient’s identity. Below are some of the things you could do to prevent falling into the trap cast by online scams or rip-off artists operating on the Web.

The first step you need to be aware of on how to avoid phishing/spoofing scams is to be vigilant. If you receive e-mails asking you to verify information, give card numbers, and provide personal data, such as social security number, you should be suspicious. Banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions would not simply send emails like these. When you read such emails, you should contact your bank and credit card or other financial institutions to verify their request. You should also see and make a note of the web address found in the header of the suspicious e-mails. Big legitimate companies usually use .com, .net or .org and would be fairly easy to identify.

Another important thing that you need to remember about how to avoid phishing/spoofing scams is to ignore the email. Do not reply nor download any attachment without first taking the time to discern whether it is legitimate or not. The email may contain malware and scam ware that might be used to phish passwords and other information that con artists and online fraudsters can use to defraud you. It is also important that you consult with your spouse before you provide via the Internet any personal information about you both.

Emails sent by these scam artists and crooks can look almost real so you really have to be careful. If you suspect that an email you received is a scam, immediately report the matter to your ISP. Lastly, children and teens are also becoming targets of these online crooks. So it is essential that you also teach your children how to avoid phishing/spoofing scams so that they can be protected too. To know more about safe Internet usage, take the time today to click on to www.LionheartAssuranceSolutions.com.