New York Attorney General Investigation Into Fake Online Reviews (Like Yelp): "Operation Clean Turf" Clamps Down on 19 Companies For Fake Online Reviews

Back in September 2013, the New York Attorney General announced the results of a year-long investigation into fake online reviews, resulting in 19 different companies being nabbed by the New York prosecutor and fined over $300,000.00.

False advertising online via fake reviews?  It's called "astroturfing."

According to the New York AG, false advertising where an SEO company or other business pays someone money for preparing or disseminating a false or deceptive review that may be reasonably assumed to be a neutral, third-party review is a form of "astroturfing."

New York State Attorney General
Eric T. Schneiderman

From the press release:

• Besides using their own employees to write and post the reviews, the companies hired freelance writers from as far away as the Philippines, Bangladesh and Eastern Europe for $1 to $10 per review.  One SEO company required that freelancers have an established Yelp account, more than 3 months old, with more than 15 reviews (at least half unfiltered), and 10 Yelp "friends," as an attempt to avoid Yelp's advanced review filter. ,,, 
• Attorney General Schneiderman's office also discovered solicitations on sites such as Craigslist.com, Freelancer.com and oDesk.com to hire people to write fake reviews.  ....
• The OAG has entered into Assurances of Discontinuance with 19 companies, with penalties ranging from $2500 to just under $100,000.  The practice of preparing or disseminating a false or deceptive review that a reasonable consumer would believe to be a neutral, third-party review is a form of false advertising known as "astroturfing."  Astroturfing is false and deceptive, and it violates, inter alia, New York Executive Law § 63(12), and New York General Business Law §§ 349 and 350.

What does Yelp have to say about it?

"More than 100 million visitors come to Yelp each month, making it critical that Yelp protect the integrity of its content," said Aaron Schur, Yelp's Senior Litigation Counsel. "We take many steps to do this, including the use of automated filtering software, leveraging our vast user community for tips about suspicious content, undercover sting operations, legal action, and cooperation with law enforcement. We applaud NY Attorney General Schneiderman for his willingness to tackle the issue of illegal fake reviews head on, and for his success in shutting down these operators. We look forward to continuing to cooperate with the New York Attorney General's office and any other interested law enforcement office or regulator to protect consumers and business owners from efforts to mislead."

Who got caught for "astroturfing" by the New York Attorney General in September?

Here is the list of 19 companies identified in the news release describing "Operation Clean Turf":

1. A&E Wig Fashions, Inc. d/b/a A&E and NYS Surgery Center 
2. A.H. Dental P.C. d/b/a Platinum Dental 
3. Body Laser Spa Inc. 
4. The Block Group, LLC, d/b/a Laser Cosmetica and LC MedSpa, LLC 
5. Bread and Butter NY, LLC d/b/a La Pomme Nightclub and Events Space 
6. Envision MT Corp. 
7. iSEOiSEO 
8. Medical Message Clinic and HerballYours.com 
9. Metamorphosis Day Spa, Inc. 
10. Outer Beauty, P.C., Lite Touch Plastic Surgery, P.C., Staten Island Special Surgery, P.C., Sans Pareil Surgical, PLLC
11. Stillwater Media Group 
12. Swan Media Group, Inc. and Scores Media Group, LLC 
13. US Coachways Limousine, Inc. and US Coachways, Inc. 
14. Utilities International, Inc. d/b/a Main Street Host 
15. The Web Empire, LLC 
16. Webtools, LLC and Webtools Internet Solutions Ltd. 
17. West Village Teeth Whitening Service, LLC; Magic Smile, Inc., aka Magic Smile 
18. XVIO, Inc. 
19. Zamdel, Inc. d/b/a eBoxed  

How Does Your Blog Look on a Tablet or Smartphone? Look Here (and Here's Why It's Important).

Traditional blog platforms (think WordPress, Blogger) were designed for desktops and laptops -- not for smartphones and tablets.  Which means that your blog may look strange and hard to read on your IPhone or IPad (or other phone or tablet device) unless you've taken steps to accommodate these new smaller-screen devices.

How can you find out how your blog appears to readers using a smartphone or tablet?  

The easiest way to check is to grab a smartphone or tablet and go to your blog's home page.  Is it hard to read -- are you seeing more of the left sidebar than the posts themselves?

Other ways to check:  go to websites like TestiPhone.com or iPhone tester to see how things look on a smartphone's small screen.

If the blog looks wonky, call your webmaster and get this fixed.

For most blogging platforms, it's an easy fix.  Wordpress has a plugin that solves the problem; Blogger does it automatically.  (Blogger also provides its own preview for how Blogger blogs look on these smaller screen devices.)

Why should you care what device is used to read your blog?

Don't get overwhelmed.  The biggest hurdle here is taking the time to check the blog's appearance on various tablets and smartphones; changing things to accommodate the smaller screen is simple to do.  

It's an important task to undertake as soon as you can, though:  it's estimated that more readers are going to be reading blog posts on smartphones and tablets than desktops and laptops very soon (think weeks or months), so getting your blog adapted for those smaller screens is a priority.

BOTTOM LINE?  A hard to read blog post on a smartphone may remain an unread blog post -- and your time and effort in creating those blog posts deserves better, so make it easy for the smartphone reader to pull up and read what you've written.

For more, check out Forbes' article, " Smartphones, Tablets, Tab-Phones Edging PCs Off The Shelf?" and Econsultancy's take on things in "Smartphones and tablets: five key differences."

Even more? Read this piece written back in 2011 on Wikipedia, where Wikipedians are pondering where most of their readers are reading Wikipedia articles then (2011) and where those readers are going to be reading Wikipedia articles in the future.

Can LinkedIn Get Lawyers In Trouble With Their State Bar? Maybe

LinkedIn provides a great service for professionals, and lots of lawyers are members of the online site.  However, given the prohibitions placed upon attorneys by their respective bars and supervising authorities over marketing, solicitation, maintaining the appearance of propriety, etc., there's been a lot of discussion over how attorneys can be active on LinkedIn without getting in trouble with their State Bar Associations or State Supreme Courts.

Skills and Expertise in LinkedIn Bios - Careful About Those Practice Areas

Consider the recent Florida Bar Association advisory opinion on LinkedIn's profiles.  It is the opinion of the Florida regulatory authority that Florida lawyers should not list his or her practice areas under the "Skills and Expertise" section of their LinkedIn bio unless they have achieved Board Certification.

For those who follow LinkedIn regularly, this may seem a little over the top.  Still, Florida lawyers -- know that you cannot list your practices in the Skills and Expertise section until something changes with the Florida Bar.

And that's not all.

Endorsements?  Uninvited LinkedIn Endorsements May Not Meet State Bar Approval, Either.

You've seen all those endorsements that pop up for you?  People you know well or barely at all, endorsing you for all sorts of things?

Well, if those endorsements involve legal areas, then take heed.  Maybe these will get you in trouble with your State Bar, too, even though you have had zip to do with being endorsed.  These are uninvited surprises to LinkedIn members as other people take the step to endorse them for something.  It's not done by the lawyer.

From the Bar's perspective, these endorsements may be in violation of Bar Rules.  Florida may find them to be in violation of the same Ethics Rule that bars the above Skills and Expertise listing of practice areas:  in Florida, it may be that these endorsements can only be legally placed on an attorney's LinkedIn page if that Florida lawyer is Board Certified in that area.  

Illinois, according to opinions given in the Illinois Bar Association, finds that LinkedIn endorsements for Illinois lawyers is okay with the Illinois Bar.

For more on the Florida endorsement issue, go here for local lawyers' take on things and go here to read Robert Ambrogi's discussion of the situation.