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Is That Free Offer Legit? Tips that Can Help
Everyone loves the chance to cash in some great free stuff, but navigating the world of freebie offers, especially online, can be like navigating a minefield. Unfortunately, a lot of people out there use the love others have of taking advantage of free deals to scam them out of money or personal details that can be used in identity theft scams. All of this gloom and doom doesn’t mean that you have to give up on free things altogether, however. The good news is that there are some simple, common sense steps you can take protect yourself from online freebie scammers. These tips will help give you the confidence that you can enjoy taking advantage of free offers without the fear of ending up facing some negative consequences.
First and foremost, when you are checking out a free offer on the Internet, take a closer look at the website, beyond just reading the words and figuring out what you have to do get the free goods. Does the website look like it was made by a professional, with some consideration, or does it look like a five minute amateur job? Are typos and clip art the order of the day, or does it look like a website any business would be proud to call its own? What about the web address – is a domain name that matches the business the website claims to represent, or is a “free” domain address that includes the name of the domain company in the address? All of these factors can be red flags that determine the difference between a scam and a legitimate free offer. If the website looks half hearted or doesn’t seem to exactly “match” the company it purports to represent, then don’t even think about trying to get anything from it.
When you’re reasonably sure that the website is actually the front of a legitimate business, it’s time to turn your attention to the privacy policy of the website. The best privacy policies guarantee you that the email address you use to sign up for this offer will not be shared with any other companies – but when it comes to free stuff, those kinds of privacy policies are few and far between. Many companies cover the costs of the free things you get by selling your email address to other companies that may have offers you they think you might be interested in. If you can’t find a privacy policy that lets you opt out of getting unwanted solicitations, at least make sure the site is secure and that any personal information can’t be obtained by hackers.
Other things to look out for when you’re looking for freebies is products that are free but that require you to pay a shipping charge that seems beyond the pale for what it should cost to ship and freebie offers that seem to ask for way more information than needed for what the product actually is. Twenty pages of personal information for a travel size bottle of shampoo? That doesn’t make sense, and it should set off warning bells in your head.
All of these red flags aside, giving out some amount of personal information comes part and parcel with freebie offers. There are a few things you can do to make life easier on yourself. Set up an email account that you will use specifically for freebie offers so all of the inevitable spam doesn’t clog up your main account. Use a phony phone number (preferably one that can’t be anyone else’s, like one that starts with 555). Last but not least, if you’re unsure about an offer, keep on moving. Better safe than sorry.
Copyright Music Infringement Copyright Music Infringement is Not Preferred Method for Music Lovers In recent years, copyright music infringement has seen an unprecedented leap in scope and scale. This is largely due to online services that allowed unchecked file sharing among their subscribers. While this abuse of copyright is not by any means limited to music, this is where the most profound effects of file sharing have been observed. Industry giants of file sharing are cropping up left and right with the demise of the pioneer for illicit file sharing, Napster. The Recording Industry Association of America (or RIAA) has made copyright music infringement their primary cause to fight. They estimate that peer-to-peer file sharing takes around 4.2 billion dollars each year worldwide from the coffers of the music industry. I really cannot blame them that is a fairly large chunk of change. The problem with their estimates however is the assumption that people would actually buy every piece of music they download or that they aren't buying the music they would have bought at any rate. While I by no means condone copyright music infringement or any other copyright infringement I do believe they are overestimating the damage to the industry that is being done by these file-sharing programs. One of the primary arguments that the RIAA is using in order to, hopefully, discourage people from not supporting their favorite groups and artists by buying their recordings, is the fact that new and struggling bands are less likely to continue making music because it will no longer be profitable. The bulk of musician's incomes are the result of royalties, which depend entirely on the sales of their albums. The RIAA is using the legal system to back them up by taking the fight to court. Recent claims made by the RIAA include one rather controversial claim that people ripping CDs they have bought and paid for does not constitute fair use because CDs are not "unusually subject to damage" and that if they do become damaged they can be replaced affordably. This assertion has raised more than a few eyebrows and is giving rise to opponents of the RIAA who claim that the lawsuits and crackdowns against those presumed guilty of copyright music infringement are actually hurting music sales and the profits of the music industry. During the height of Napster popularity (the hallmark by which all file sharing seems to be compared) CD sales were at their highest rate ever. People were exposed to music and groups they otherwise may not have heard without file sharing. As a result of enjoying the music by these groups people went out and actually bought the CDs of the music they enjoyed. It's ironic that the very lawsuits designed to stop copyright music infringement have actually managed to stifle file sharing enough that CD sales are dropping noticeably around the world. Opponents and critics also challenge that rather than being a source of copyright music infringement, peer 2 peer networks offer unprecedented exposure for new artists and their music. Another argument against the RIAA is that the real reason for the lawsuits against file sharer is because they want to keep the prices for CDs over inflated while keeping the actual royalties coming to the artists relatively low. The copyright music infringement claims made by the RIAA have become suspect. The music industry is currently working on ways where fans can legally download music. This will mean that fans have access to the music they love from their PCs and directly to their music playing devices without resorting to illegal copyright music infringement. The truth is that most people want to do the right thing and given viable alternative will elect to do so. Dove Beauty Product Lover? Get Free Products! The Internet is a great resource for many things in everyday live. Whether someone loves food, toys or health care products, it is available on the Internet. Many companies even offer free samples of their new or changed products to customers. One of these companies is Dove. The Dove web page offers anyone free samples, trial sizes and sometimes even full size promotion offers to anyone interested. On the companies web page a whole page is dedicated to their current offers and free samples. The free samples of Dove are available to anyone over 18 years of age living in the United States. The promotions and trial sample products change frequently and therefore there is not guarantee that one can get the product seen on the page a few days or weeks ago. The trials are shipped directly to the customer’s home and area true product of Dove. Anything from lotions to hair care and other company products might be offered for trial on this page. Sometimes the company also offers coupons, discounts and rebates for certain products on this web page. Getting free products for dove beauty products lovers is actually very easy. All the dove lover has to do is visiting the Dove Special offers page and fill out a form to request the sample or samples. From there the company takes care of the rest and ships the products to the customer while supplies last. The forms that the customer has to fill generally ask for the name, address, e-mail address and birth date. As with so many things on the Internet, one should move carefully giving away certain information. While name and address are necessary for delivery of the product and this information does not bare such a great risk, it is okay to give away this information. When it comes to the birth date and e-mail, one should be more careful. The birth date of a person can be used in identity theft, and even though this is a big company and the company itself will not steel the identity, the Internet is the medium the user uses to enter the information and therefore it is necessary to be cautious. It is always better to not have ones birth date float in cyberspace available for anyone seeking to do wrong. Many dove lovers have commented that they did not have any problems or increased mail after entering their e-mail address, but if one worries about this kind of thing, there is always the possibility to use a free e-mail account, that is used as a dummy in such cases. Sometimes, some of the Dove offers are not listed on the free samples page at Dove right away, since they are part of another promotion and therefore it is also essential to check some of the other freebie pages for Dove sample offers. The various freebie online pages offer a collection of all links that currently lead onto free Dove products and are therefore very useful in the search for samples. Since the Internet is not always the answer, dove lovers also should make sure to check stores for any promotions. Often time’s companies sent stores free samples to distribute to their customers to get them trying something new, and to spread their product to a wider variety of customers. This is the harder way to get to free samples, since these promotions are not generally on a calendar as such and therefore one has to either know when through store employees or has to be a t the right time at the right place. The best bet for Dove lovers is still the free sample page that the company offers. |