Headliner SCAM, CON!!
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I am pretty upset to have been conned by Headliner, and the fact that WordPress is part of it. I was asked by WordPress, the page is clearly marked at the top with the WordPress Logo along with WordPress.com, to use this service.
You are then asked to Authorize your blog, which again appears that you are just authorizing WordPress to publicize your blog so that you get more views.
You then click the Authorize button and get sent to Headliner.fm which is obviously not part of WordPress.
Then I start reading about how Headliner now owns all of my content and can view and modify anything the is mine. This to me is Copyright infringement. I never signed up for an account with them and I never signed or clicked a box saying that I agreed with their terms of use.
I am thinking of canceling my WordPress account and moving to another platform as this is unacceptable. Apparently there is nothing I can do now to get my blog removed from this parasitic con artist website who is trying to steal owners copyrights to material they wrote.
Our family lawyer said he is going to check into this mess and see what he thinks, but his initial impression is that this Headliner is a SCAM operation and they can be taken to court over this if they do not provide an option to remove a persons blog from their list and their service of stealing the intellectual property of others.
I believe WordPress will also be held accountable as they are portraying this as a part of their service to lull people into a false sense of security with Headliner and get us involved in their SCAM.
I would like to hear from WordPress about this issue prior to having a lawyer contact them.
Dave
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Apparently there is nothing I can do now to get my blog removed from this parasitic con artist website who is trying to steal owners copyrights to material they wrote.
Please read this Staff reply in an earlier forum discussion about how to disconnect your site from headliner.fm https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-take-back-writings/page/2?replies=67#post-1435510
You may also be interested in reading the discussion that follows that reply.
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See here https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-take-back-writings/page/3?replies=67#post-1471502
The advertising is appearing in the get instant feedback nanny. Fortunately I immediately disabled that feature when it was introduced. I disabled it here > Dashboard > Users > Personal Settings http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/get-instant-feedback-when-you-publish/
This thread is tagged for a Staff response.
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@justjennifer
Aha! simultaneous typing. It’s good to see you here. I’ll be off to join my company now. Have a lovely holiday. -
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Thanks for the responses. OK, I clicked removed the connection by going to https://en.wordpress.com/settings/security/ . However each time I go back to that link it still shows up. I have tried 4 times now so it seems like this maybe does not work.
Also I wonder if they still will consider that they own my work and that they have access to reposting, editing, deleting my post, comments and so forth like their TOS say.
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Try a hard refresh of that page. If your WordPress.com site is not connected, they should not have access to your posts.
Regardless, this thread has been tagged for Staff input. Please be patient while waiting for their reply.
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It is a HEINOUS “service” and I’m really shocked WP.com has anything to do with it. Every single person I know who works for Automattic is better than that.
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Hi all – This was pretty well covered in the other forum thread linked to above, and Headliner responded to concerns about their TOS here.
Headliner is a social sharing service, not a scam. Certainly, using the service is entirely optional and you can disconnect from it at any time.
Any connected applications are listed at the bottom of the screen here:
https://en.wordpress.com/settings/security/Dave, I checked and see you were able to disconnect, so I’m going to close this thread, but if anyone else is having trouble disconnecting from Headliner, please open a new one and we’ll be happy to take a look.
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I understand why you are upset as the Terms and Conditions has a section that sounds strongly one-sided.
As we pointed out in a prior thread, our in-house general counsel has looked at this and it is necessary to have this language because Headliner runs on Facebook and Twitter, and those two services have this language in their terms and conditions as well.
Perhaps Facebook’s and Twitter’s agreements are too strong but if you think that this is a “scam” or “heinous,” it’s really Facebook and Twitter that you should have an issue with, as Headliner must legally comply with the terms and conditions of a service which they are deeply integrated with. Many WordPress.com users want more traffic from Facebook and Twitter so we run things like Headliner and Publicize.
You are under no obligation to use either Headliner or Publicize, but please be sure to read over the third-party services’ terms and conditions before agreeing to use them.
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Hello everyone,
Headliner is an opt-in product designed to help content creators share links to their work though status updates shared on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Our only mission at Headliner is to help content creators of all kinds reach and engage new audiences.
In order to provide this free service, the following needs to happen: a social network must be linked, posting permissions must be granted by the page owner, and a status update must be submitted to the community for review.
To drive traffic to user’s content, the status update must include a link to it. Any data collected from sharing and posting messages is used to match members and track the engagements on the posts members have shared.
In response to previous threads, we updated our Terms of Service to explicitly state “You own all your content and you control how it is shared on Headliner”, and we removed the language “sell” and “resell”.
There are detailed screenshots, tips, and examples of how Headliner works posted on our site, our blog, and all our social channels. All partnerships are entered into after careful consideration, and use of our plug-in is strictly voluntary.
https://headliner.fm/howitworks.php
https://headliner.fm/features.php
http://blog.headliner.fm/
http://blog.headliner.fm/user-guide/
http://blog.headliner.fm/user-guide/faqs/
https://vimeo.com/45773528
Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr: HeadlinerfmIn review:
– All Headliner does is share user-generated and member-approved status updates on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr
– Headliner does not host content or uploads, so the content must already be uploaded elsewhere
– The status updates may include links to users’ content, but it is not required
– Data collected from the link is used to track and report engagements – Clicks, Likes, Shares, Comments, Retweets
– We updated our Terms of Service to explicitly state, “You own all your content and you control how it is shared on Headliner”, and we removed the terms “sell” and “resell”.
– Our TOS has to be in sync and good standing with the social networks since that is where our community’s posts are shared
– We do not post to WordPress
– We only post to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, and only if the page owner has linked their social network and approved a share request
– We never post anything automatically, and every share request must be approved each time by the page owner receiving the request
– There is no minimum usage required, and each member is free to share as often or as little as they like
– We are an opt-in product and all transactions are generated by our members and based on granted permissionsWe hope this clarifies how Headliner works. We are happy to discuss in more detail on a personal basis.
Please feel free to reach out, and thanks again for the opportunity to respond.
Jorge (at) Headliner (dot) fm
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