[Kellie aka Ms. B]

I can't express how disappointed I am Trust. You were the one who was supposed to be on Oprah, not Upromise.

[Trust]

I'll give her a call, I'm disappointed as well. As long as I've supported her.

I have to tell you, when I read the title and saw what forum it was in, my heart stopped for a second. I was like, I don't do anything with parasites, why is this here, lol. I was always thinking if she had a little shopping section, she would just kill. And all the commissions she made could go to her various charities, Angel Foundation etc.

[Brian - ShareASale]

Darn it. Now I won't be able to watch Oprah anymore.

Trust - I had the same reaction... glad it wasn't anything!

[mayfly]

Originally Posted by Trust

I have to tell you, when I read the title and saw what forum it was in, my heart stopped for a second. I was like, I don't do anything with parasites, why is this here, lol.

My poor heart stopped for 2 seconds

[flamingoworld]

I wanna be on Maury!

[Kellie aka Ms. B]

Trust, I originally posted it in the Midnight Cafe. Someone moved it. Sorry if anyone's heart skipped a beat there, but it wasn't me. LOL.

Yeah I can't watch her now either. And I'm sure UPromise is making a good deal off it. I found it linked to on their site. And, cuz I just have to say it, it links to joining UP on Oprah and yes the install is part of the registration (opt-out) and their new toolbar is more aggressive than the old Top Moxie, in it will alert any affiliate traffic to the merchant, like LittleGrad.

Personally, I think you're more deserving of mention on her site Trust.

Connie, I hear Jerry Springer is looking for someone to promote.

[Billy Kay]

Guess who manages - and makes millions from - the State of Nevada's Scholastic Fund???

Yep! It begins with a "u"

[Kevin]

Should we approach O on this?

[UncleScooter]

This just goes to show you how effective Upromise is at covering up what they really do. This just shows what an uneducated dumb ass she is for having them on her show

I have never been a fan of Oprah but now I officially hate her and will not buy anything she endorses...period!

I heard Dr. Phil was gonna have Zango next week. Stupid SOBs...both of 'em!

If everyone at ABW changes their sig to something like mine, I bet we can get some good SERPS to let her fans know she supports thievery.

[Gary-AvantLink]

Should ignorance be an excuse? NOPE. But even such, maybe an email to the O people to bring their attention to this thread (and issues with UP) should be sent.

I nominate Trust to send the email

The O people need to do a little more homework on who they are endorsing..

[Chuck Hamrick]

Not that I am a great lover of Oprah but I do respect her charity work. Why the hell would she have any clue on what Upromise does technically. Come on people!!

On the other hand if it was brought to the attention of the press especially via a conservative paper or talk show I bet we could get some information out there. I think it is worth a try.

[UncleScooter]

Hey Kellie,
How about some fresh videos of UP stuffing cookies when the customer clicks "No" so we can link to those too.
I am sending an email with a link to this thread to her. I am in disbelief that she would support these thieves.
Ignorance is no excuse. She has people who can research companies like this on her behalf.
Those of you taking up for her need to check yourselves. Charity work is all fine and good, but legitimizing and supporting someone who is polluting our industry transcends that...but that is only my opinion. Go ahead and give her warm fuzzies!

[Kevin]

Yeah.. That's why I said approach O, not crucify her...

[Chuck Hamrick]

I think if this came to her attention her fuzzies would get cold quickly. But if her screeners give us the run around we should go to plan B.

[UncleScooter]

Crucifying her is the only way we will get her attention. She lives in a world full of fuzzies. Only the thorns get noticed, but I am not saying that my way is the only valid method. Approach it from all angles and maybe we can get her attention. I have the in-your-face side covered

I would like to see the title of this thread changed to "Oprah Supports Adware"

[Kevin]

Winning a war does take many approaches in concert. My personal war is with parasites as opposed to Oprah, but I can see where there would be anger there too.

I'm just thinking back to her reaction when she found out that the book she was pimping turned out to be fraud... She hammered the kid.

Perhaps we can count on her to do the same here.

[Donuts]

UPromise is inconsistent with the values Oprah publically professes, she just doesn't know it yet.

There are hidden fees in the underlying savings plans.

There are serious hoops to go through to withdraw your "money".

$12.32 a year savings won't put your kid through college. Oprah, ask them to show you an independently audited statement of average benefits. We all know you would never mislead your fans with stories that give false hope!

UPromise is not a charity, it is a for-profit company. Rebates are not the only money changing hands here. I'm not against profit, but profiting by clogging consumer's computer with adware and spyware is ill-intentioned profit. For Oprah to be a part of it is damaging to her name and reputation.

Your computer is slowed down with malware.

It has been shown that the user doesn't always get the credit they think they're getting.

Because its long term there's insolvency and accounting risks at hand that I wouldn't accept regarding my child's future.

There are many limitations and exclusions and fine print.

Merchants don't acquire new customers from the software "referrals" - if they all wised up, you're left with an infected computer and nothing else.

Stuff like this should concern most people:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
(http://www.upromise.com/8743.do)
Business Transfers. If there is a change of control in Upromise's business (whether by merger, sale, or otherwise), its customer information could be sold as part of that transaction and your personally identifying information potentially could be used by the purchaser. Notice will be posted on the website so that you are aware of this change of control. However, if that business materially changes this statement or the information-handling practices as described in this statement, you will be notified by email and/or through a notice posted on our web site, and you will have a choice as to whether your existing information is used in a new manner.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oprah has joined the gangs who are scaring consumers with adware / malware. A quote from the industry from August 2004, from LinkShare's then CEO, my bolding:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
(http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=12513)
“It has potential to destroy the consumer’s online shopping experience,” says LinkShare Corp. CEO Stephen Messer. “If consumers figure out there are all these programs that watch what they do, they will stop buying online. It’s bringing back the fear of buying online that we spent eight years getting rid of.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oprah, they are switching away from Top Moxie, their previous platform for stealing - because word has gotten out about it. They've stolen enough over the years to enable them to make their own theftware now. You know people Oprah, to change, they need to do it from within themselves - and until then, people like you can ask them very simple questions that will reveal the truth of things to you. Ask them to explain in plain language, why they used Top Moxie software for years, what it did for them and why they are now moving away from it (to something less known and more aggressive).

[Sam Bay]

If anybody has connections to some good PR firm, we could turn this around!

I'm sure if we can professionally approach Oprah's production team, explain our side of story, not only we can get her support from these guys, but turn the tides in our favor.

[Trust]

You know I've seen Oprah shows with a doctor about what certain things can do to you and they bring out the actual organs and other stuff. Here are what healthy lungs look like, these are the lungs of a smoker. Very effective.

I can imagine seeing Kellie on that show, going thru the stuff so people can understand. Showing a clean computer vs. one with adware and going thru how it works so anybody can understand it. Having Oprah do something like that would be a big blow. She's one of the more powerful people in this country. People just need some education.

[Sam Bay]

Also, needs to be said is that Upromise is stronger than ever in regards to its backers.
They were acuquired by Sallie Mae Corp several months ago, which got acquired itself recently and the new owners include nation's biggest banks: JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, owning about half the Upromise's parent company along with two private equity firms owning the other half.

[Kellie aka Ms. B]

@Scott. Don't know if I could show that now, because the way their new toolbar works is completely different in the way the end user interacts with it. UPromise also just completely redid their site. They were actually down for a few days changing it over. So I'm not certain if that page is still there or if it looks the same. For those who don't know what Scott was specifically referencing, it was from a thread I posted back in Nov. 2005. It is well worth the read or re-read. I found it interesting to read again today.

@Donuts Unless you really dig, it does look like they are making their own software now. But they aren't. Thanks for the lead-in though. Their new toolbar is made by Compete.com....you know the company like Alexa that reports how many people, etc go to a web site? How do they get that information in a large part? By their own toolbar and the ones they white label out, like the new UPromise toolbar. So UPromise now has two-fold benefit, the extra affiliate commissions they make through it and the data of web usage of their members that goes to Compete. They've moved from just adware to adware/monitoring (putting it nicely) software.

I plugged in the UPromise's Privacy Policy that is specific to the toolbar (yes they need a separate one just for the toolbar) into a EULA analyzer and the results are here. Since there is a link to the Compete Privacy Policy included in UPromises's (that's how you finally see it's Compete behind it although UPromise never actually names them but just calls them "service provider"), the analysis of their Privacy Policy is here. Not that I found the link to the Privacy Policy on the download page on UP very prominent. It's tiny font, well below the big download button and beneath the fold and under 2 other links. The FAQ's evidently are more important that the end user understanding the privacy trade off in using the toolbar to make sure they save for their children's education.

I think that people (speaking outside of our industry, although holds true in our industry as well) automatically assume that everything is way cool with UP's business model because they are so large. Unfortunately not true. There are many issues related to their software (new and old). UP publicly admitted they had been engaging in a bad practice for years because of an engineering oversight in the thread I linked to above. Yet they never corrected it. After telling the community they would. That's UPromise themselves. There is certainly a lot more issues that many do not agree with in regards to their business practices. Indeed, there are some merchants and networks who will not partner with UP because of the behavior of their software. Yet UP will not give up the software. To anyone with a bit of common sense, that should speak volumes to how important that software is to UP themselves.

I think Oprah has comprised her reputation by backing them. However, Joe Blow general public by and large thinks UP is really cool too without any problems. Which is probably a big reason they are on her site. I have no idea if she would change her position or not. I do think her company (and probably lawyers as well) would need to see that there is a many in the online advertising industry who have concerns about certain aspects of UP's business model and know succincently what those specific concerns are. JMHO of course.

And what Donuts said bears repeating. UPromise in NOT a charity, they are a for-profit company.

[Merchant Consultant Team]

>>I'm just thinking back to her reaction when she found out that the book she was pimping turned out to be fraud... She hammered the kid.

That should happen more often...

[nakedgamer]

Oprah has a track record of promoting frauds, and yet people are just not getting surprised and disappointed?

[Sam Bay]

I think Oprah has comprised her reputation by backing them.

I disagree with that.
In fairness to Oprah, she's not backing Upromise or anything.
It's just an ad on her website. It's very likely that she has no idea how Upromise works, how it damages normal affiliates' sales.

[Trust]

Originally Posted by nakedgamer

Oprah has a track record of promoting frauds, and yet people are just not getting surprised and disappointed?

I wouldn't say that. She's been fooled before (more her staff) but when found out, outs them and admits, she's very open. And I don't think it's really Oprah, could be whoever is running the site/her people and I do think it's more a lack of understanding more than anything. Opportunity for education.