LendingTree Pressures Blogger To Remove Comments
from the section-230-anyone? dept
You may have heard the story earlier this week about how LendingTree had a security breach as employees were apparently handing out company passwords to mortgage firms, allowing them to access customer data directly. LendingTree is now suing the mortgage firms involved. However, LendingTree is apparently trying to crack down on some of the discussion about all of this. On one blog that wrote about the story, a commenter left a comment alleging that LendingTree doesn't actually "let banks compete" but has its own lending center -- which seems to be based on a class action lawsuit that was filed against LendingTree a couple years ago.However, LendingTree is now putting pressure on bloggers to remove such comments, mentioning that they're defamatory. Of course, thanks to section 230 of the CDA, a blogger is not responsible for defamatory content left by others (they are still responsible for their own defamatory content, of course). While it doesn't appear that LendingTree's legal notes have entirely reached the level of a cease & desist (more like a legalistic nudge), it does sound like they've convinced some other bloggers to remove content that need not be removed. And, of course, by claiming that the content is defamatory, it may scare some bloggers who don't understand their section 230 safe harbors to feel obligated to remove the content.
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Filed Under: bloggers, cda, defamation, free speech, section 230
Companies: lendingtree
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You know, for reference.
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Why not?
LT was not hacked. LT has a web access system and high paid LOs making an average of $7,500 per Interest Only ARM Loan for LTs internal lending division, LT Loans. To understand LT Loans and the level of senior management driven crime, Google for the lawsuit where LendingTree promises “When banks compete you win”. This lawsuit stems from the reality that the consumer’s identity info went only to their own internal lender LT Loans. LT Loans then displayed wholesaler names as lenders to the consumer and closed loans internally with LT Loans.
Yes the LendingTree Senior Team knew there was risk in letting LT Loans manage their own leads without matching to lenders on their network as the original business model was founded on. Each person on the senior team had a million dollar+ bonus based upon LT Loan Revenue- would you imagine the smiles arround the table in senior team meetings when it was decided weekly that it is ok to match only to LT Loans with million dollar+ bonuses?
Note that the CEOs on both coasts and most of the VPs on that senior team have decided to pursue family interests after their bonus payouts in cash and stock incentives. The senior team laid off people who managed their systems, and then their senior team was negligent in managing consumer data. Loan Officers stopped making high commissions and sold consumer identities to multiple dishonest lenders. LendingTree Senior Executives did not deactivate passwords to the systems that hold the 70+ consumer data fields including your address, your cell phone number, and your social security number.
Do you think while having weekly senior team meetings each and every senior executive with a bonus based upon margins at Lending Tree Loans choose not see the risk in sending consumer information to an internal entity without monitoring simple password deactivation? For more than 6 months, 10,000 new consumer records a day- the senior team continued to allow LT Loans to operate without shutting down passwords in their legacy systems.
Don’t believe it?
Here is the still public link to the LendingTree consumer data- [REDACTED AT THE REQUEST OF LENDING TREE LEGAL REPRESENTATION] link to the FBI Mortgage Fraud Division. http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march07/mortgage030907.htm
https://tips.fbi.gov/ Identity Theft Fraud for Profit and by Senior LendingTree Executives is a possible topic. The FBI has a field office in Charlotte about 30 minutes from LendingTree so take the 3 minutes to file an online form. Of course this is just my opinion…
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yes, the link please
Reminds me of the line from the guy who stood up to monster cable - One part of what he said still stands out in the same way and reflects on why some blogs should be embarassed: The better long-term view would have been to fight against vexatious litigation as a matter of principle.
Or you can just roll over and take it with glee, as the person hosting the "Defamatory" comment has already proven victim to.
Maybe there needs to be like a blogging alliance with its own repertoire of lawyers to protect em, much in the same way the corporation is going after individual bloggers?
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More Blogs
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It's not like money grows on trees. Money is made out of trees, some petroleum products, and other junk.
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Section 230 doesn't matter. It's too expensive to fight a lawsuit. Unless of course, your the 'Brew Blog'...lol
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Re:
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Sue Me, Please!
I would get a ton of publicity for my site, them let them find out that I'm "sue proof" and start over with another name and webhost should I lose.
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lending tree
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Possible class action
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