Vision Media's Attempt To Silence Critic May Be Exposing More Questionable Activities

from the welcome-to-modern-media dept

Mon, Mar 8th 2010 6:50pm — Mike Masnick

Earlier this year, we wrote about a company called Vision Media TV that was suing the operator of 800Notes.com, a site where users had complained about Vision Media. Vision Media, of course, has been criticized in the NY Times and other media publications for cold calling organizations, promising to put them on "public television," but not making it clear that all it seemed to do was send the program it would put together (after the organization paid somewhere around $20,000) to various public television stations, with no promise that it would get on TV. Vision Media has been aggressive in trying to quiet any criticism, but with this latest lawsuit, not only is it getting some pushback, but others may be digging up some additional dirt on the company.

Paul Alan Levy, who is representing 800Notes, alerts us to the news that all of this attention has helped dig up other reports about the company, including the fact that similarly questionable pitches have come from other companies with different names (WJMK, United Media, Vision Media and Great America HD)... but the very same address as Vision Media. Rather than Hugh Downs, those other pitches involved media personalities like Walter Cronkite and Mike Douglas -- both of whom ended up suing the company over being misled. This reminds me that we received a similar pitch ourselves a year or so ago, but I have no idea if it was from the same company (and tragically, I can't find that voicemail any more).

Of course, none of this would be getting as much attention if the company wasn't trying to silence 800Notes and its users from saying why they felt the pitches were questionable.

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Filed Under: cold calling, criticism, hugh downs, streisand effect
Companies: 800notes, great america hd, united media, vision media tv, wjmk

13 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2010 @ 7:27pm

Corporations that try to use the broken nature of the U.S. government to silence critics deserve to suffer.
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- ScientiaVinces (profile), 8 Mar 2010 @ 9:24pm
  
  Re: "Broken Government"
  Okay, I'll take the bait…
  Please explain how this effort by a shady company to silence its critics is in any way connected to the "broken nature of the U.S. government?"
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  - Ronald J Riley (profile), 9 Mar 2010 @ 4:11am
    
    Re: Re: "Broken Government"
    This is legitimate criticism of government which has been very slow to reign in Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). We need broad anti-SLAPP legislation which allows a quick and low cost way to get a summary judgment and there should be significant fines and damages associated with a finding that a lawsuit is a SLAPP.
    
    Lawyers who bring SLAPP lawsuits should be subject to sanctions including fines and suspension of privileges to practice.
    
    http://www.InventorEd.org/SLAPP/
    
    This is one area where Mike Masnick and I actually agree on something. There are others but after addressing all the drivel about patents I have little time left.
    
    Ronald J. Riley,
    
    I am speaking only on my own behalf.
    Affiliations:
    President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
    Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
    Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
    President - Alliance for American Innovation
    Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
    Washington, DC
    Direct (810) 597-0194 / (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2010 @ 5:52am
      
      Re: Re: Re: "Broken Government"
      the only drivel is the nonsense that is routinely penned above your ridiculously ghey signature.
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      - Ronald J Riley (profile), 9 Mar 2010 @ 12:05pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: "Broken Government"
        It warms my heart to see TechDIRT lemmings whining and is a sign that I am doing something right:)
        
        Ronald J. Riley,
        
        I am speaking only on my own behalf.
        Affiliations:
        President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
        Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
        Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
        President - Alliance for American Innovation
        Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
        Washington, DC
        Direct (810) 597-0194 / (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2010 @ 9:35pm
  
  Re:
  Tell me, does your mouth ever leave the flaccid schwang of the anti-gov't movement?
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Barbra S., 8 Mar 2010 @ 8:04pm

Let them go ahead and sue
I think they are doing the right thing.
I mean what could possibly go wrong?
- Barbra
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Ronald J Riley (profile), 9 Mar 2010 @ 4:00am

Similar Scams On Inventors
We have also seen the same MO used to try and con inventors out of similarly large amounts of money. The TV scam and invention promotion fraud are both common. Invention promoters are at best worthless and many are outright cons. They fleece inventors for typically something between ten and fifty thousand dollars. They advertise on TV and Google profits handsomely from running their ads. See http://www.InventorEd.org/caution/ for a few hundred web pages about questionable invention promoters. One last point, I am including my sig file to give those who lack the ability to comment on the substance of the something to complain about:) Ronald J. Riley, I am speaking only on my own behalf. Affiliations: President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org President - Alliance for American Innovation Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel Washington, DC Direct (810) 597-0194 / (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
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- Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2010 @ 5:01am
  
  Re: Similar Scams On Inventors
  Two reasonable comments in a row, there is hope.
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JustMe (profile), 9 Mar 2010 @ 6:09am

Babs!
Good to see you here. Thanks for the laugh.
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iamtheky (profile), 9 Mar 2010 @ 12:33pm

Nope that was the douche that warmed you. You should look for actual signs that you are doing things correctly, because there are exactly 3 posts between yourself and yourself, one of which praises you, one replying to post #2, and mine calling your signature ghey and your work nonsense (which I apparently failed to sign in for). So if any of that makes you feel you are doing something correctly.....
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Overcast (profile), 9 Mar 2010 @ 2:05pm

"The Streisand effect is a primarily online phenomenon in which an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of causing the information to be publicized widely and to a greater extent than would have occurred if no censorship had been attempted. As early as 1993, John Gilmore observed that "the Net treats censorship as damage and routes around it.""
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Anonymous, 11 Jul 2010 @ 5:26pm

Non Profit Org in Alabama falls for this scam
A VERY WELL KNOWN non profit organization in Birmingham AL (one of the biggest) fell for this scam and paid the money (over $26,000 to be exact) for this low quality piece of crap video. You can't even find the Graet America HD Web site now - it just says "please come back later". I can't believe an org. that begs for money every time you turn around just blew that much money without investigating it first. The sad thing is, the board president approved it. More later.......
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