Don't Click Here For A Free iPod

fermion writes "Do you wonder what all those free iPods links are about? Do you wonder why apparently rational Slashdot users would use their .sig line to push an offer that seems little more than a thinly veiled pyramid scheme? Answers to these questions can be found in this NYT article (personal information, with no free iPod, is required). The plan itself seems simple. Rat out your friends to advertisers, and get a free gadget. The firm in question, Gratis, Inc, gets a bounty on each customer. The firm claims to have a revenue of $15 million in 2004. They claim to give away 500 iPods a week. If, as the article claims, each contact earns a bounty of around $50, we might presume that 1 in 12 contacts get a free iPod. This firm seem fairly upfront. Another firm mentioned in the article, Consumer Research Corporation, seems much less so. As always, read the fine print."

Comments

Hey..

[Anonymous Coward]

I know someone who made some cash from a make money fast scheme.. of course he was on top on the pyramid. He also didn't make too much money, but it was something. That's being forthcoming and honest, right?

You can type more than that for your subject.

[Anonymous Coward]

Auch auf den Wellen wird gefochten
Wo Fisch und Fleisch zur See geflochten
Der eine sticht die Lanz' im Heer
Der andere wirft sie in das Meer

Ahoi

Reise, Reise Seemann Reise
Jeder tut's auf seine Weise
Der eine stößt den Speer zum Mann
Der andere zum Fische dann

Reise, Reise Seemann Reise
Und die Wellen weinen leise
In ihrem Blute steckt ein Speer
Bluten leise in das Meer

Die Lanze muss im Fleisch ertrinken
Fisch und Mann zur Tiefe sinken
Wo die schwarze Seele wohnt
ist kein Licht am Horizont

Ahoi

Reise, Reise Seemann Reise
Jeder tut's auf seine Weise
Der eine stößt den Speer zum Mann
Der andere zum Fische dann

Reise, Reise Seemann Reise
Und die Wellen weinen leise
In ihrem Blute steckt ein Speer
Bluten leise in das Meer

Reise, Reise Seemann Reise
Und die Wellen weinen leise
In ihrem Herzen steckt ein Speer
Bluten sich am Ufer leer

Read with no registration

[ErichTheWebGuy]

http://www.bugmenot.com/ offers a way around this stupid registration requirement for this and many other websites. For example, I just got in thanks to them using the following:

user: suckerdj
pass: suckerdj

If enough people start using bugmenot, these bastards just might stop requiring us to give them our life history to access a bit of information.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Read this carefully O/T

[tonsofpcs]

Pacifica Rocks!
BTW, without Pacifica, we wouldn't have ever contested the FCC censorship crap, then again, without them we wouldn't have had George Carlin's filthy words being THE LIST of words we can't say............

Salshdot.org

[Meagermanx]

This is actually pretty ironic, because I just typed salshdot.org, instead of slashdot.org for the first time, and then I correct it, and this is the front page article.

Considering I visit every day (Just about) the odds that I would type it salshdot.org for the first time ever, and then this would be the front page article are pretty low