More (bad) publicity than even Ben Stein’s money can buy

[Ian David]

Nothing gets you scorn on the Web like being a bully. That’s something Adaptive Marketing, the company behind FreeScore.com, should be well aware of by now. Adaptive, which lures consumers with offers of “free” credit reports only to tack a recurring charge onto their monthly credit card bills for other services, recently sued an anonymous blogger who wrote about their bait-and-switch tactics.

Of course, Adaptive and it’s parent company Vertrue didn’t go after Felix Salmon whose post about Ben Stein’s commercials for FreeScore.com got Stein fired from his job as a New York Times columnist, and it didn’t go after the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post or a bunch of other outlets that wrote critical stories about Adaptive ( interestingly enough, all those other critics have lawyers who can defend them against frivolous lawsuits). Instead, Adaptive asked a Connecticut court to force Yahoo! to provide it with the email address for the person who authors the flâneur de fraude blog.


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It’s a wonder why companies such as Adaptive think it makes good business sense to go after bloggers on such non-existent legal grounds. (Tech Dirt also notes that Adaptive is suing Wikipedia). Haven’t they learned by now that nobody likes a bully and that all they’re doing is creating a buzz about their questionable marketing practices?

This from financial blogger Gary Weiss:

Take a bow, Ben Stein! You really have sold your soul on this one. But I must admit, you certainly are getting some terrific publicity for Freescore, as well as yourself, and from more than just your old pal Felix Salmon. Let’s hope regulators shut it down, and fast, thanks to your good work.

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More:
http://citizenvox.org/2009/09/21/more-bad-publicity-than-even-ben-steins-money-can-buy/