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SEATTLE – A Washington-based company that sells search engine optimization (SEO) services to small businesses is prohibited from selling or advertising them to new customers under the terms of a settlement announced by Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna.

While the SEO standards debate rages, the search marketing industry continues to be perceived as purveyors of snake oil and predators of small business owners.

SEOMoz honcho Rand Fiskin denies that SEO standards are needed while raging against Internet Advancement to no avail for more than two years:

“All in all, this is one of the most despicable players I’ve seen in the spam/scam SEO game. It disgusts me to think of the thousands of dollars companies are paying every day to these clowns to get services that carry no business or marketing value whatsoever. These guys are going on my big time sh-t list.”

That was in February, 2006 before hundreds of additional complaints were filed against SEOMOz competitor, Internet Advancement.

Under the agreement filed in King County Superior Court, Internet Advancement must allow its customers to exit existing contracts. The SEO firm’s Web site is still online so advertising apparently doesn’t include a Web presence.

So will the lawsuit put the SEO firm out-of-business?

Amazingly, no.

The agreement allows Internet Advancement to offer search-engine optimization services to existing customers. The company may provide Web site design services to new customers, as well, provided such services don’t include the creation of metatags or keywords or submission to search engines.

The agreement states that Internet Advancement cannot:

* Advertise or offer search optimization (SEO) services to new customers;

* Misrepresent its success rate, ability to provide top search-engine rankings or increase Web traffic or its number of repeat customers;

* Fail to disclose all material contract terms before customers have agreed to pay for services;

* Fail to respond promptly to consumer complaints, refund requests or other requests for services or information;

* Charge customer credit cards without authorization;

* Fail to process requests to cancel service or bill consumers after they have cancelled contracts;

* Represent that a customer isn’t entitled to a refund because the customer performed changes to the source code of his/her Web site unless a third-party technical expert confirms that the changes were made or authorized by the customer.

More astonishing: Google, Yahoo, MSN , AOL and Ask have allowed their logos to be used on the Internet Advancement Web site.

Internet Advancement of Redmond, which also does business as 4GreatBuys.com, was accused of misrepresenting its ability to provide top search engine rankings and increase Web traffic, even after being sued by Washington State.

The defendants admitted that some of the violations had occurred and agreed to the new settlement filed today in King County Superior Court, but denied that all of the alleged violations were part of a repeated pattern. They will pay a $118,386 civil penalty and $35,959 in attorneys’ fees. The defendants also agreed to comply with a lengthy list of injunctive provisions or else be slapped with an additional $450,000 penalty.

According to today’s settlement, Internet Advancement guaranteed that a customer’s Web site will appear within the first 25 links on major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and AOL, when Internet users search for specific keywords.

Customers paid $999-$3,000 in “set-up” fees and a $149 monthly fee.

Small businesses filed 82 complaints about Internet Advancement with the Attorney General’s Office between Oct. 28, 2004, and March 10, 2008. The Federal Trade Commission and Better Business Bureau also received complaints.

All righty then.

REFUND REQUESTS
Internet Advancement agreed to a refund program. Customers eligible for refunds fall into three categories:

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The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) allegedly burned down the “Street of Dreams” a multi-million-dollar development in Woodinville, Washington. Explosives found inside luxury houses ignited the blaze near Seattle on Monday morning. Police suspect the anonymous eco-terrorism group set the fires.

The collective groups’ members are called Elves or “The Elves.” Is an elf an ordinary guy? Were the elves framed? None of the homes were sold according the Seattle Bubble blog.

The Earth Liberation Front is sometimes mistakenly called the Environmental Liberation Front - creating greater confusion for search engine algorithms and searchers’ database of intentions. There is no Web site in Google for the ELF.

The FBI classified the Earth Liberation Front as ecoterrorists and the top domestic terror threat in the United States in March 2001. That was before September 11th.

Now Internet search has given rise to Anonymous, the anti-Scientology group that uses viral videos widely available in YouTube and other video search engines to promote their cause.

Nothing’s more viral than manmade disasters (California wildfires) and natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, floods). Hold tight we’re in for nasty weather.

TV has been criticized for publicizing terrorist acts. TV, though, hires editors and producers to help their talking heads. The Internet? Unfiltered.

YouTube? Not enough editors to even keep copyrighted material offsite.

There has got to be a way.

Click to read the rest of this post…

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) allegedly burned down the “Street of Dreams” a multi-million-dollar development in Woodinville, Washington. Explosives found inside luxury houses ignited the blaze near Seattle on Monday morning. Police suspect the anonymous eco-terrorism group set the fires.

The collective groups’ members are called Elves or “The Elves.” Is an elf an ordinary guy? Were the elves framed? None of the homes were sold according the Seattle Bubble blog.

The Earth Liberation Front is sometimes mistakenly called the Environmental Liberation Front - creating greater confusion for search engine algorithms and searchers’ database of intentions. There is no Web site in Google for the ELF.

The FBI classified the Earth Liberation Front as ecoterrorists and the top domestic terror threat in the United States in March 2001. That was before September 11th.

Now Internet search has given rise to Anonymous, the anti-Scientology group that uses viral videos widely available in YouTube and other video search engines to promote their cause.

Nothing’s more viral than manmade disasters (California wildfires) and natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, floods). Hold tight we’re in for nasty weather.

TV has been criticized for publicizing terrorist acts. TV, though, hires editors and producers to help their talking heads. The Internet? Unfiltered.

YouTube? Not enough editors to even keep copyrighted material offsite.

There has got to be a way.

Click to read the rest of this post…

Should we be worried that Google’s corporate culture will become all stiff and tie-loving now that the company’s gone to D.C.?  Well, the short answer appears to be "no."  A recent party at Google’s Washington office was apparently sophisticated, and yet still about as Google-y as you can get.
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googles dc [...]

As far as datacenters are concerned, Google and Microsoft have been in the spotlight for the past few months.  Yahoo’s not ignoring the subject, though, and did, in fact, recently open a datacenter of its own in Quincy, Washington.
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yahoo celebrates environmentally friendly datacenterRate this: 2.5

Barack Obama, one of the top Democrat candidates for President in next year’s election, visited Google yesterday and talked about his technology industry platform, among other things. Here’s video of his speech:

Obama unveiled his “Innovation Agenda”, his set of principles related to the tech industry that would shape his policy if he became President. You [...]

The European Union Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson said the Untied States should change the Internet gambling law that discriminates against European companies by not allowing them to offer their services in the U.S.

"What we need to see is a change in U.S. legislation that removes that discrimination against EU operators," Mandelson told reporters before going [...]

Have the telecoms and cable companies just abandoned the Net Neutrality fight altogether? It used to be they staged aggressive rhetoric battles, created questionable studies, and pretended to honor Net Neutrality on their own – without legislation. Lately though, they seem to have gone radio silent about the matter and have even abandoned the so-called [...]

Yahoo’s going to Bellevue, but it’s Bellevue, Washington, and not New York’s Bellevue Hospital Center, in which the search company will open an office.  You may still have to question Yahoo’s sanity, though, as this move puts it in Microsoft’s territory.
Actually, a map of the area shows that about four miles should separate the [...]

I know several people who live in Vancouver Washington and one of them happened to ask me if I knew of any lawyers there. I didn’t at the time, but I did a little bit of research and found a Vancouver attorney for them.
This site covers a lot basic information as well as more [...]