Verizon Wireless Takes Legal Action Against Unknown Telemarketers
Filed under: Advertising, Americas, Communications, Internet, Mobile, Telecom
BASKING RIDGE, N.J., March 26 /PRNewswire/ — Verizon Wireless said today it has filed a lawsuit to stop unknown telemarketers from calling its customers and employees with an offer of an extended car warranty. The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, alleges the telemarketers illegally used an autodialer to reach Verizon Wireless customers and used “spoofing” techniques to mask the origin of the calls.
The lawsuit alleges that Caller ID showed calls were made from a variety of numbers with 281, 614, 801, and 562 area codes. But, when Verizon Wireless customers and employees attempted to call the numbers found on Caller ID, they generally heard a fast busy signal, indicating a non-working number.
“Telemarketers are using increasingly sophisticated methods, such as illegal autodialing, to harass our customers,” said Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel of Verizon Wireless. “Whatever the method, these unlawful telemarketing calls are an annoyance to our customers and invade their privacy, and we will continue to use every weapon in our legal arsenal to stop this activity and protect our customers.”
In the lawsuit, Verizon Wireless says that, beginning in January 2008, more than 2 million of its customers and employees received calls on their wireless telephones with a pre-recorded voice message indicating that the recipient’s car warranty was about to expire, and encouraging them to press “1″ for more information. When a recipient presses “1″, he or she is connected to a person who asks for the make and model of the car. However, if the recipient asks for information about the company offering the policy, the representative simply hangs up and ends the call.
The lawsuit alleges violations of the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which makes it illegal to use an autodialer to make calls to wireless phones, as well as state fraud and privacy laws. By filing the lawsuit, Verizon Wireless will be able to use the discovery process to help identify the currently unknown telemarketers, and to get them to halt their practices.
Verizon Wireless’ record of protecting customer privacy puts the company at the forefront of the U.S. wireless industry. Over the past several years, Verizon Wireless has won permanent injunctions against individuals and companies that have engaged in illegal telemarketing and text message spamming to Verizon Wireless customers, and against those who have attempted to obtain information about Verizon Wireless customers to sell to third parties.
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 65.7 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 69,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ – News) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD – News News). For more information, go to: www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast- quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.
Questex Media Acquires FierceMarkets
Filed under: Advertising, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Communications, Data Management, Europe, Finance, M&A, Marketing, New Media, Publishing
New York, NY January 22, 2008 – FierceMarkets (www.fiercemarkets.com), a leading online B2B media company, has announced its acquisition by Questex Media Group, Inc. (www.questex.com), a global, diversified business-to-business integrated media and information provider headquartered in Newton, MA.
The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (www.jegi.com), a New York-based independent investment bank that specializes in media and information, represented FierceMarkets in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.
Based in Washington, DC, FierceMarkets helps business marketers reach targeted decision-makers through its portfolio of e-mail newsletters, web sites, webinars and live events focusing on the Telecommunications, Life Sciences, Healthcare, IT, and Finance industries. The company currently produces 19 targeted online publications, primarily marketed under the Fierce brand, including FierceWireless, FierceBiotech, FierceCIO, FierceHealthcare, FierceFinance and many others.
With 45% compound annual revenue growth over five years, more than 300 repeat advertisers, and triple-digit annual audience growth, FierceMarkets has established itself as a leader in the new generation of fast-growth media companies taking traditional trade publishing into the digital age.
“We at FierceMarkets are thrilled to join Questex,” said Jeff Giesea, Founder and President of FierceMarkets. “Questex has a strong leadership team, a global footprint across numerous complementary markets, and a similar vision of creating a global, diversified B2B media company. I think they’re pretty darn “Fierce”. Combined with our expertise and reach in digital B2B, there is a lot of value we can create together.”
“Jeff and his team have built FierceMarkets into a leading B2B lead-generation organization serving key vertical markets,” added Kerry Gumas, Questex Media’s President and CEO. “Their business model is an excellent fit with Questex’s digital strategy to serve the new and evolving demands of readers and advertisers and facilitate a meaningful connection between the two audiences. We welcome Jeff and his team and look forward to working with them to further Questex’s focus on lead generation and integrated campaigns, which are top of mind for our advertising partners across all vertical markets served.”
About FierceMarkets
FierceMarkets, a leader in B2B e-media, provides information and marketing services in the Telecommunications, Life Sciences, Healthcare, IT, and Finance industries through its portfolio of e-mail newsletters, web sites, webinars, and live events. Every business day, FierceMarkets’ wide array of publications reaches more than 560,000 executives in over 100 countries. Current publications include: DailyTechRag; FierceBiotech; FierceBioResearcher; FierceBroadbandWireless; FierceCIO; FierceDeveloper; FierceFinance; FierceHealthcare; FierceHealthIT; FierceIPTV; FierceMobileContent; FiercePharma; FierceSarbox; FierceTelecom; FierceVoIP; FierceWireless; FierceWireless:Europe; IT-Wireless; and The Business VoIP Report.
About Questex Media
Questex Media Group, Inc. is a global, diversified business-to-business integrated media and information provider that serves multiple industries including technology, telecommunications, beauty, spa, travel, hospitality, leisure, abilities, home entertainment, landscape design, building services and natural resources through a range of well-established, market-leading publications, events, interactive media, research, information and integrated marketing services. The company’s media properties include over 100 print and digital media publications, 45 conferences, tradeshows and events, and a range of research, data and information products. The company’s operations include more than 400 employees in offices throughout North America, South America, Asia and Europe.
About JEGI
The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI) of New York, NY is a leading independent investment bank for the media and information industries. As a leading M&A advisor to media and information companies, JEGI has closed numerous high-profile transactions for: Global Media and Information Companies; Entrepreneurial Owners; and Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds. JEGI has established an impeccable reputation in the marketplace, which reflects its superior performance on behalf of its clients. The firm’s executive team of investment bankers has over 200 years of combined experience across the media and information market sectors that JEGI serves.
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PR Contacts
Adam Gross
212-754-0710
adamg@jegi.com
MySpace and Google to Launch Open Platform for Social Apps Development
Filed under: Advertising, Americas, Business, Internet, JVs, New Media, People
LOS ANGELES / MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. (November 1, 2007)—MySpace, the world’s largest social network, and Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that they are joining forces to launch OpenSocial— a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web. The partnership spearheads an initiative to standardize and simplify the development of social applications. Today’s announcement underscores MySpace’s commitment to supporting standards that foster innovation in an increasingly social Web.
Demo of a MySpace webpage using OpenSocial, a programming model developed at Google
“Our partnership with Google allows developers to gain massive distribution without unnecessary specialized development for every platform,” said Chris DeWolfe, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of MySpace. “This is about helping the start-up spend more time building a great product rather than rebuilding it for every social network. We’re pleased to collaborate with Google to establish a landmark standard for social applications.”
As a founding member of OpenSocial, MySpace will provide critical user mass and platform guidance. The OpenSocial standards are designed to evolve through contribution from the open source community and as new features are developed by various partners. Global members of the OpenSocial community include Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING.
“As the most trafficked website in the country and the most popular social network in the world, MySpace is one of the leading forces in the global social Web,” said Dr. Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Executive Officer of Google. “We’re thrilled to grow our strategic relationship with MySpace by joining forces on this important initiative.”
“As an application developer, we’re excited to see MySpace adopting the OpenSocial standard for social application development,” said Joe Greenstein, CEO of Flixster. “Application developers have been working with MySpace for a long time—this takes what we can do together to a whole new level. The sheer scale of MySpace makes this extremely exciting for us.”
“We’re all citizens of a larger Web—no network is an island onto itself,” said Aber Whitcomb, CTO of MySpace. “We look forward to continuing to develop great technology with Google and all of the OpenSocial participants. It’s exciting that social networks are getting social with each other.”
The launch of OpenSocial is the first release of technical details for the forthcoming MySpace Platform. Starting tonight, developers can start writing applications for OpenSocial at http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial which the MySpace Platform will support at launch.
About MySpace
MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums, MySpace has created a connected community. As the first ranked web domain in terms of page views(c), MySpace is the most widely-used and highly regarded site of its kind and is committed to providing the highest quality member experience. MySpace will continue to innovate with new features that allow its members to express their creativity and share their lives, both online and off. MySpace’s international network includes 20 localized community sites in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Denmark, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Japan and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS – News, NWS.A – News; ASX:NWS – News, NWSLV – News).
*Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, September 2007. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to http://www.comscore.com.
About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.
Media Contacts
Dani Dudeck
MySpace
(310) 969-7148
ddudeck@myspace.com
Tracy Akselrud
MySpace
(310) 969-2813
takselrud@myspace.com
Rachael Horwitz
Google
(415) 336-4469
rhorwitz@google.com
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Google, orkut, and OpenSocial are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
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