Viacom agrees to let Youtube users remain anonymous
Holy shit you would have thought it was the end of the world a few weeks ago when Viacom asked for user information from Youtube in it’s lawsuit against them. I had more than a few heated discussions with other members on a few internet marketing forums how in my opinion, it wouldn’t happen.
The most common retort was of course in reference to Napster and the RIAA lawsuits against the poor souls who had (illegally) downloaded copyrighted material from P2P networks. I countered that the RIAA was and is, a dying business model and they were taking one last gasp at reversing the slide in the recording industy, that comparing that to the Viacom suit was like comparing apples and oranges.
Whether I’m right or wrong on that one can still be argued but the fact is that today, Viacom agreed to allow Google/Youtube to withhold or at least mask IP addresses and other identifying objects of the users who downloaded copyrighted material.
Associated PRess Internet Writer ANICK JESDANUN reported this today:
“Viacom and other copyright holders have agreed to let YouTube mask user IDs and Internet addresses when Google Inc.’s online video site hands over viewership records in a $1 billion lawsuit accusing YouTube of enabling copyright infringement……”
“Lawyers for Viacom and the other plaintiffs signed an agreement with YouTube on Monday saying they would accept measures to help YouTube preserve the anonymity of the records. Under the agreement, YouTube can swap the user logins and IP addresses with other, presumably anonymous signifiers; YouTube has a week to propose its method”
So for now at least, it seems we’re all safe after downloading video files from television shows and movies that are owned by Viacom who is suing Youtube for copyright infringement while at the same time is allowing their own shows to upload copies to Youtube.
Amazing.
Using Myspace for Adult Dating Profits
Okay, I’ve been off this method for some time but here’s a way I used to use Myspace to make some spare change from adult dating sites. I’m not going to post my referral links or anything so you’ll just have to sign up for one if you’re not already with them.
There are hundreds, hell, maybe thousands of adult dating sites that have affiliate programs. With this method, you’ll want to sign up for one that has an affiliate program that gives you money everytime someone signs up with a free account.
Obviously, the big money is when you get people to pay for a full account but this is a great way to get your feet wet. If you get enough free signups, some sites will pay as much as $1.00 per sign up. You might not think it’s much but if you can get 3 or 4 of those a day, it’s an easy $100 bucks a month.
So, here’s how I used to play this: The number one tool you will need is a Myspace friend adder. There used to be dozens of them but most of them stopped updating as Myspace got more aggressive towards people marketing on their site. The one I still use is Friendblaster Pro. I highly suggest you grab the demo or purchase it from the company who designed it. You can check them out at Addnewfriends.com. When you purchase the software you’ll be given the option of 1 account or unlimited. I strongly suggest you pay for the unlimited as Myspace marketing requires numerous Myspace accounts!
Okay, so the key is to create some accounts on Myspace. The most success I had was creating accounts of hot soccer mom types. Nothing too racy but definitely with some sexiness. Create your first account. Do some searching online and grab a picture of a cute, early 30’s mom type woman. This is where you can get in trouble. Obviously you take a risk of someone seeing someone they know as your “sexy mom”. I won’t give away too many secrets here but use your imagination on where to get pics from. Now, start working on your profile and get creative! Put some work into the page and the profile. Make the profile sound like she’s really a happily married woman but would not be opposed to…..ahem….”fun”.
Now, you have to use your Friendblaster to start adding new friends. Remember, you need to target who you request as a friend. Since the theme of this all revolves around adult dating (sex), you’re going to want to go at young men. Typically 18-25. And you want to try and target new users. Don’t worry, once your profile gets views, the older guys will start asking you for requests as well.
I’ll skip forward a bit here but we’ll assume that you’re starting to get a decent number of friends. Now, again using Friendblaster, you start posting comments and bulletins. Here’s where the tactic comes in that I used to great success although to be honest, it’s probably a bit worn by now. That’s why you want to target new users when you do your friend requests.
When you comment your friends, you do so with a graphic. This will be a fairly sexy or erotic picture of “you”. But what you want to do is have the graphic look like it’s a youtube video clip. At the very bottom of this post are a couple images that show what I’m talking about.
You can grab any type of image like this from any video site by doing a search for “girls kissing”, “sexy moms”, anything you can think of. These actually did not come from youtube but you get the idea.
The point of course is to have the viewer, (your new friends) incentivized to hit that arrow thinking of course that he’ll see more video. But the graphic is merely a link to your dating site.
The hardest part of course is getting someone to the signup page at your dating site. This method above worked very well for me at the time. You do this by commenting your friends with the graphic and maybe a text also that says something along the lines of, “Hope you like my pic, it’s from my account at (whatever dating site you’re promoting)”
The guy clicks, is at the signup page and if he has the option for the free signup, there’s a good chance he’ll go for it. Boom, you just made your money.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Myspace has made it tougher. Capchas are all over and it gets boring to keep entering them.
- Many Myspace users know all the tricks. It is possible your account(s) will be deleted. That is why you need as many as possible. There are are still some Myspace account creators that work but I just used to buy premade accounts so you’ll have to do some searching.
- This technique works with bulletins also but nowhere near as well as commenting.
- I never had success with this using mail in Myspace. You might though.
So there you go. Like I said, the technique is a bit dated but what do you have to lose? I rarely use Myspace for anything anymore. To be honest, I got in late and while I made a few bucks, I never had the patience to really target my friends to a specific niche and then it just got harder and harder so I found other venues to make cash.
Adult Dating Sites, Do You Have It In You?
One of the biggest markets to promote these days is adult dating. And when I talk about adult dating, I’m not talking about sites such as eharmony. The term “adult” dating usually refers to sites that are more inclined to connect people who are pretty much just looking for sex partners.
Now we can all make judgements about these types of sites and in fact there is a lot of fake stuff out there but what we care about here is how to make some nice money off of these sites.
So what is a good site to promote? I make a very nice income from Huge Traffic
They are the affiliate company that promotes the adult dating site “Fling.com”. This is one of the most lucrative payouts in the industry. If you want to become an affiliate, go to http://www.hugetraffic.com and sign up as one of their affiliates. How does $35.00 sound for every member you get to sign up?
I should tell you beforehand that if you are in any way opposed to nudity, porn or things of that nature, this is probably not for you. If you want to make money in this industry, you have to be willing to suck it up (ouch..sorry) and do what needs to be done.
I’ll tell you one way I first got started in adult dating in my next post. It’s fairly grayhat stuff.
60 Minutes Pimps Facebook
I’m going to puke the 3 martinis I just had this evening. I saw a promo earlier this week for 60 Minutes that showed an interview with Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook and told my wife I definitely needed to watch it.
There was something about the promo that made me say, “This is a pimp job. They will not mention Myspace once during the entire interview”.
So tonight, we watched 60 Minutes.
I cannot recall a bigger pimp job on something in recent memory.
Leslie Stahl, correspondent extraordinaire, seemed to just be all goo-goo over Mark Zuckerberg and his talents. Ooooh…I can create my own page??? Ooooh…I actually have…FRIENDS out there who know me???
And lo and behold, nary a mention of Myspace, which for the record I think is the abortion of the internet.
Nothing but comparisons to Facebook being the next Google.
Uh, excuse me?? Google is a freakin’ SEARCH ENGINE. How can you compare Facebook to anything without mentioning Myspace?? And I repeat, I have nothing to do with, nor do I even like, Myspace.
Facebook, like Myspace, is a social network. Google is a search engine.
Look, Myspace, Facebook, Hi5, they are what they are. But to call them something else, in a format like 60 Minutes is P-I-M-P-I-N-G
This was a joke and proof (in my opinion) how easy it is for a 23 year old billionaire to advertise his website on CBS.
Craigslist Robbery Ring
I think we all know how valuable Craigslist can be for our marketing efforts both whitehat and blackhat but these losers have really taken it to the next level.
A group of teenagers in New York were posting ads in Craigslist “selling” Porsches. One of the ads had a 2002 911 Turbo selling for $50,000 obo. Another one had a 2005 Carrera GT being sold because the owner was “getting too old” for the car.
The ringleader was 17 year old Agniesika Banach (say that 5 times very fast) who recruited 6 dudes to be her muscle. They posted the ads in the affluent Long Island section hoping for people to show up for the cars with cash down payment.
It seemed to work. One couple from Pennsylvania drove up to New York and were attached by 4 guys who then stole the $4,000 they brought as down payment and in a separate incident, 2 guys who showed up with $22,000 were assaulted although they managed to get away losing only $500. Who carries this kind of money???
And I used to feel guilty when I’d post an ad on CL for some affiliate offer.
Buyer beware.
Myspace Cyber Bully May Face Trial
Something I read in the L.A. Times this morning over my coffee: Looks like a federal grand jury in LA has begun issuing subpoenas in the case of the Missouri teen who hanged herself after some taunting on Myspace
I’m sure you remember the case, 13 year old Megan Meier thought she was being rejected by a 16 year old boy she “met” in the shithole more commonly known as Myspace when in fact it was Lori Drew, the mother of one of her former girlfriends. This stupid bitch created the account solely for the purpose of communicating with Megan to see what Megan was saying about Drew’s daughter.
Prosecutors in Missouri have been trying to find some way to charge Drew with something but have been unable to find any statute under which they could prosecute her. However, in an interesting twist, prosecutors in the US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles are looking into charging Drew with fraud against Myspace by creating a false account.
Federal wire fraud and cyber fraud statutes are being looked at in the hopes of filing charges against Drew. Since Myspace is headquartered in Beverly Hills, the prosecutors think they can file the federal charges in California.
Interesting stuff. I guess I have two thoughts on this. The more important of the two is in relation to Drew who in my never humble opinion needs to be charged with something. What I don’t know but to let this fucktard get off without even a slap in the face is not acceptable.
The other is the detail on which they are looking at charging her and how it affects internet marketing. As we all know, many internet marketers have used Myspace in the past for for their money making ventures. Myspace and other social networks such as Hi5 and Facebook have been the target of bots used to create numerous, bogus profiles, add friends, comment and bulletin round the clock. Myspace has clearly cleaned up their site but there are still people using this method. In the past, Myspace made an attempt to delete fake profiles and in some cases, ban ip’s but I wonder if this case in Missouri and California might set a precedent on future efforts.