Adware Company Suspect In Major Scam

TeMerc · Aug 29, 2005

From ReveNews:

Wayen Porter said:

After reviewing the evidence in the books I urged the sender, David Eastbrook of Huricane Digital Media to spirit this information to the proper authorities including the FBI, FTC and the New York Attorney General's Office since there seems to be a tie-in with Direct Revenue. A company, I might add, that recently experienced a massive round of lay offs perhaps related to their less than stellar disclosure practices..

I choose a basic interview format to lay the ground work for questions. David's answers follow my questions. I urge readers to ask David questions as he will be monitoring this thread to give feedback. This is a very complex case with many twists and turns and a blog entry simply cannot do it justice.
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Full Read @ ReveNews

This is actually a 'live' interview, with questions being posted by readers and answered as they are recieved. Check it out.

TeMerc · Aug 29, 2005

A little bit more of Direct-Revenues woes:

Direct Revenue: Out of the Pan, Into the Adware Fire
August 29, 2005 /New Media Report/--Direct Revenue’s CEO J.P. Maheu has answers for those who’ve reported that the doors are closing at DR. During a conversation with the NewMedia Report last Thursday, Maheu implied that the recent changes at Direct Revenue are simply the result of a new strategic vision for the company, and claimed that DR is now working with likes of the CDT’s Ari Schwartz to fix the subversive adware issues that have damaged the company’s rep in the past. However, the future might not be as sunny as Maheu would like it to seem. Former DR employees and insiders tell us that the company is now the subject of an investigation by New York Attorney General’s Office.

Over email, Wayne Porter told the NewMedia Report staff that more evidence will soon be made public that implies that Direct Revenue was aware of a scheme involving drive-by installs from banners; according to Porter, this evidence has already been turned over to the NYS Attorney General as part of an ongoing investigation.
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New Media Report

For a little bit more backround on Direct-Revenue and IM installs you can read this archive of articles

TeMerc · Aug 31, 2005

Tomes of Grey Part II: Eastbrook Begins & EULA Madness
David EastBrook:

Wayne Porter said:

In my phone conversations with one Mia Simondson of Direct Revenue she told me they were working with Orian Holtby as adserving.us. She also "claimed" that Orion Holtby failed to pay his invoices to Direct Revenue just as they failed to pay our bill.

Of more interest is an application called Tinkopal. The TinkoPal EULA
has/had the ABetterInternet privacy policy embedded in it proving they were working with this individual prior to their deals with adserving.us. TinkoPal is owned by Ncontext Media which is registered to none other than Orion Holtby.

Porter's Note: I have also analyzed the TinkoPal EULA and there are direct references to ABetterInternet aka Direct Revenue and their privacy policy in the EULA.

For the EULA collectors out there here are some TinkoPal EULA metrics:

Number of Characters: 34791
Number of Words: 5653
Number of Sentences: 145
Avg Words per Sentence: 38.99
Flesch Score: 4.71
Flesch Grade: 22 = Beyond Twelfth Grade Reading Level

There are also some great clauses in the EULA too- it is a lovely work of art if you are into legal self flagellation. Here are a few reasons people detest adware. This agreement (which requires the equivalent of a master's degree to truly understand) is so ridiculous and dangerous (the ability to upload arbitrary code) that I wouldn't wish it on my own enemies.
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Full Read @ ReveNews

TeMerc said:

: There are some amazing 'requirements' contained on the linked page. If all lawyers wrote contracts with as many holes in it, biased to the vendors side, like this, no one would be able to stay in business.
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TeMerc · Sep 3, 2005

Some details are beginning to trickle out about Orion Holtby and his scam on Hurricane Digital Media........no, check that, they are streaming out.

This saga will be also taking place over at Wayne Porter's ReveNews. Watch as the story unfolds, as we get a direct peek into the mind of a scam artist, and witness as he is taken down, by David Eastbrook, Wayne, and PG, no holds barred, no rules, cagematch style, its gonna get ugly before it gets pretty. And I already placed my bets on the winners.

Full Read Here

TeMerc · Sep 8, 2005

Tomes of grey hit the news, and so do we...

Paperghost said:

Two stories for you today - it's that exciting. I'll post the second story later, but for now we're going to revisit an old friend...

From what I've seen, the ballad of Orion grows apace, and probably with some guy in green tights in a forest singing about adBUMb, online advertising news-type site.

Imagine my surprise when they blasted the ballad of Orion out of a lute which was clearly turned up to eleven.
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Full Read @ VitalSecurity.org

TeMerc · Sep 24, 2005

After a long stretch of silence, David has fired up the blog once more about our good friend Orion Holtby.

David Eastbrook said:

It’s been a while since my last post, so I decided today is a good day to ruin someone’s weekend. Lord knows he’s ruined plenty for other people.

Orion Holtby has a partner.

His name is Hamed Vaghayenegar. Orion reportedly bought Hamed’s company, Creatrix Media Inc. ( www.creatrixads.com ) earlier this year. Hamed has been acting as the “front man” for the combined operation, which has used a variety of names. They include nContextMedia, Publishercash, Adacuity, nContextSearch, and many, many others.
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Full Read w\pix, & PDF of flyer @ Hurricane Digital Media

TeMerc · Oct 19, 2005

The picture I posted a while back of Holtby brandishing a handgun has generated a great deal of reaction. I felt I should address the subject to explain our position and perspective.

We’ve been asked if we’re worried or scared or something because we’re dealing with armed thugs.

No, not particularly.

We will never make the mistake of bringing a knife to a gunfight.
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Full Read @ Hurricane Digital Media

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