Website Compliance- Critical Information About The New FTC Laws...

By Vetio Vee

Long ago the internet was a vast unknown and uncharted territory. Website compliance was still a thing of the future. It was like the old mountaineers of the past making their claim in a new land. But just like any new civilization, that vast land become corrupted and need someone to infuse rules and laws. Along comes the FTC to put a new face on the internet and to try and purge the internet from those marketers that are less than honest.

What was once only an agency that only oversaw magazine ads, newspaper ads and TV ads, they were now looking at the same content as it related to the internet. The FTC is now adding in internet marketing to the mix of areas they regulate. It will affect you and it will affect the future of internet marketing.

• Do the new FTC laws affect you?

The new FTC laws were made to protect consumers from marketing practices that could potential harm them. That was the non legal definitions of why the act was made. If you want to know the legal jargon, a simple search on Google will pull up a number of legal sources that will show the details.

Anything you do online that has to do with representing a product, service or marketing is under the FTC umbrella. The claims you make and the claims made by the owner of the products you sell can get you in a lot of trouble. The claims need to be tested and found to be true. If they are not true and cannot be backed up with solid data, then they are considered to be in violation of the new FTC rules and regulations. Even if you are an affiliate, you are still liable for the claims made by the product owner. Being an affiliate does not protect you.

What you have to remember is there are rules around everything and to find out more about these regulation you need to the the FTC website and really ready through the publications. They are kind of dry and not all that interesting to read, but they will give you facts on what is acceptable and what is considered bad practices. Website compliance is what you want to focus on and not knowing the right legal wording to keep on your website compliant will make you an easy target for the FTC.

• What are the fines?

Right now this is hard to say. Since the first cases against a marketer have yet too come in front of a judge, there is no way to know the exact fines and how they will be levied. What is known at this time are the fines and punishments can be in the thousands. Currently there are websites under investigation and those sites will be the first to be tried in a court of law.

• Will I be able to continue business as usual?

No! Absolutely not! You want to ensure you are making changes to your website now. After 12/01/2009, you may be subjected to FTC fines and punishments. There is no grace period. If you are not in compliance, your time will soon run out. One day you will have the FTC knocking on your door. You have to be more than truthful on your website. You have to be transparent.

• What will this means for the future of marketing products online?

This is actually a good thing for the future of marketing. It means that all those guys that using black hat tricks and marketing techniques to cheat consumers will eventually fade away. The market will become an easier place to sell products. Affiliate marketers and business owners will be able to provide their services in a cleaner environment. Customers will start to trust more and that will lead to higher sales.

Once last thing to remember, since these laws are new, it will take some time for them to mature. During that time the laws will change and the legal jargon you use today to keep yourself in compliance may change at any time. Keep yourself ahead of the game and stay vigilant. Nothing is worst than having a letter sent to your door with a summons to appear before a court.

About the Author:

Take a look at what software can help you become compliant now http://legalsoftwareforms.net . To find out more about the FTC and what it means to you go here http://vetiovee.com/233/websitecompliance/

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com

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Results Prove this Grows Any Business

By Brian Johnson

If you're like most entrepreneurs, you've seen definite downturn in your business over the past
year or so...

Profits are under-whelming...

sales goals are far from being reached...

and the outlook doesn't look to get any better soon.

So what's the answer?

How are you going to reclaim your business?

And who's going to help you?

Well, I'll admit--I don't know of one particular business and marketing expert that has all the answers...

I know FIFTY FOUR, 54.

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With the League of Extraordinary Minds, you'll join famous marketing legends Jay Abraham and Rich Schefren for six full weeks of expert interview sessions featuring 54 of the greatest business minds on the planet.

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How Does the Mind Work?

Yoga science is first and foremost a psychological subject. Yoga deals with controlling the mind and therefore considers all the diseases of the mind and the ways in which these can be cured.

It examines all the "impediments" of body and mind which hinder or stop a person from taking up and progressing yoga practice. It sets out how these impediments can be overcome.

It also looks at the functioning of the mind: how it reacts to experience and how these reactions in turn influence the mind. These are the six constituents of psychology.

Firstly, we need to know what the mind is?

All that exists is God. He has a Soul and a body. His body is the universe, made up of Souls and matter.

Souls include all the Gods and Goddesses which mankind worships, and also your own Soul. The Soul has the power of seeing. The self within experiences, but does not see, being of the form of matter not Soul.

Matter in respect of living beings includes the self and the inner organ (antahkarana) (brain functioning) which has chitta (consciousness), buddhi (intellect), ahamkara (ego) and manas (mind).

Chitta is individual and cosmic consciousness. Individual consciousness, whereby the Self (atman) knows that it exists because it is aware of itself, and cosmic consciousness, of objects held in the mind.

Chitta has five states: experienced knowledge, misconception, imagination, deep or dreamless sleep and memory (pramana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidra, smrtayah).

Buddhi, the intelligence of the Self, has the power of knowledge and has will power. It discriminates between right and wrong, and decides what to do.

Manas, the sense-mind, perceives objects and reacts. Mind is a servant, not a master of the self. If the self through its buddhi determines that it would like a woman to think of a man, then this is what the woman's mind will do. The contents of the mind are thoughts, feelings, peace and bliss. In this age everyone is stressed.

What the mind most needs in the short run is relaxation (even more than happiness). In the absence of this it gets stuck in a rut, the next best thing. The mind also has inclinations, which are determined largely by the history of its experiences in this life.

Matter, being made up of the three gunas of satwa, rajas and tamas, is always in motion. Hence, so long as the mind is not under control, chitta experiences fluctuations.

Diseases of the Mind. Klesa

There are five afflictions: worldly or erroneous knowledge (avidya), sense of 'I' ness (asmita), desire and attachment (raga), dislike (dvesa) and attachment to life and fear of death (abhinivesah).

Pain and sorrow (duhkha) result from the affliction (klesha) of dislike (dvesha)

Causes of the Afflictions or Diseases of the Mind

Afflictions are the end result (vipaka) of bad actions (bad karma).

Karma gives rise to subtle tendencies and desires (known as asaya).

The interaction of these tendencies (samskara) and desires with your life experiences gives rise to afflictions, if actions are not in accord with yama.

If asayah exists one is reborn with a specific type of birth (jati), span of life (ayuh) and set of prospective experiences of sensual joys (bhogah).

Free Choice

We all have free choice, to do good or bad actions, karma. The balance of good and bad choices of actions that you have made in this and in your previous life is also called karma.

Good or bad is defined in terms of whether they are consistent or not with the five ethical principles of Yama.

Your karma determines whether your life experiences will be pleasurable or not, according to the law of karma. Karma is only overruled by God's mercy.

Impediments to Yoga Practice, Antarayah

Yoga practice is that which helps to still the fluctuations of the consciousness.

The impediments to yoga practice, that is which create fluctuations of the chitta or consciousness are:

disease (vyadhi),
sluggishness (styana),
doubt (samsaya),
carelessness (pramada),
idleness (alasya),
sense gratification (avirati),
living in illusion (bhrantidarsana),
lack of perseverance (alabdhabhumikatva)

and inability to maintain one's achieved progress (anavasthitatvani).

Overcoming the Impediments to Yoga Practice and the Diseases of the Mind

The first chapter of the Yoga Sutra sets out the mental disciplines required to overcome the various impediments to having a yogic mind.

The second chapter sets out the physical disciplines required to cure the diseases of the mind, consisting of the Yoga of Action, Karma Yoga, namely Tapas, Svadhyaya and Ishvara Pranidhana.

About the Author:

Shyam has been practicing yoga for 47 years and teaching it for 32 years. Shyam is with The Loving Heart Centre and you may visit his website at http://www.lovingheartcentre.net

Courtesy: http://www.healthandyoga.com, A popular website that helps you find natural solutions for complete health and detoxification. Discover health and beauty… Naturally!

Employment Law: What Is All the Fuss About the Age Discrimination Regulations?

By Ian Mann

The Age Discrimination Regulations came into force on 1 October 2006 and implement the age component of the European Framework Employment Directive. The DTI Regulatory Impact analysis predicts that 8,000 Age Discrimination claims will be brought in the Employment Tribunals per year. Employers need to familiarise themselves with their obligations under the new provisions to avoid costly litigation.

Scope

The Age Discrimination Regulations apply equally to employees of all sizes of companies. As is so often the case, small firms will in some ways be expected to operate their policies as if they had the benefit of a human resources department of a large corporation at their disposal. There are no exclusions for part-time workers and unlike the position in the USA, there are no exclusions for employees below a certain age.

They apply to employees and the self-employed ("workers"), contract workers (such as those provided by third party agencies), adults receiving training or education from employers; further and higher education institutions and adult education programmes; those in work experience and members or an applicant for membership of a trade organisation, including a trade union. Unpaid volunteers are not protected.

Default Retirement Age

However, the Age Discrimination Regulations are nothing to do with the debate on extending the retirement age. In fact, the Age Discrimination Regulations provides for a default retirement age of 65 and excludes employees from claiming age discrimination in respect of forced retirement of those aged 65 and over.

Interestingly, this particular limitation only applies only to "employees". Of course, one must remember that even for those employees over 65 a new retirement dismissal procedure must be followed for the dismissal to be fair. A mandatory retirement age for non-employees, even of the age of 65, will have to be "objectively justified".

What Is Unlawful Age Discrimination?

For the purpose of the Age Discrimination Regulations, there are two types of age discrimination:

(1) Direct age discrimination;

and

(2) Indirect age discrimination.

A person (A) directly discriminates against another person (B) if on grounds of B's age, A treats B less favourably than he treats or would treat other persons. Indirect Age Discrimination is where A applies to B a provision, criterion or practice which he applies or would apply equally to persons not of the same age group as B, but which puts or would put persons of the same age group as B at a particular disadvantage when compared with other persons, and which actually puts B at that disadvantage.

There is also protection for those of a perceived age. If someone is discriminated against because they look too young, or too old, for a particular job, they will be able to complain successfully even if the discriminator is wrong about their actual age.

The distinctive feature of the Age Discrimination Regulations is that direct, as well as indirect, discrimination will be capable of being "objectively justified", and the same test will apply to both forms of discrimination.

How Does One Objectively Justify Age Discrimination?

The Age Discrimination Regulations are new and there is not yet a body of UK case law, but it is highly unlikely that the high costs of employing older people, for example, will be a justification for an employer that would allow him to discriminate on the basis of age.

It is further highly unlikely that customer preference will be a legitimate aim allowing employers to discriminate on the grounds of age. In other words justification for age discrimination cannot be related to age discrimination itself.

The DTI have given the following example:

"A retailer of trendy fashion items wants to employ young shop assistants because it believes that this will contribute to its aim of targeting young buyers. Trying to attract a young target group will not be a legitimate aim, because this has an age-discriminatory aspect."

There is also the need to be proportionate. This means that employers must use the least discriminatory measure possible even to achieve a legitimate aim. An employer may have to show why it was proportionate to use directly discriminatory age barriers rather than age neutral potentially indirectly discriminatory policies.

Age-based Harassment

A subjects another person (B) to harassment where, on grounds of age, A engages in unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of: (1) violating B's dignity; or (2) creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for B. Harassment will only be regarded as having had the effect of violating the B's dignity or of creating an offensive working environment if it "should reasonably be considered as having that effect".

Ageist jokes and teasing may very well create such an environment. Conduct must be "unwanted" by the recipient.

Conclusion

We can see that there are many aspects of human resources and discrimination policy that will have to be fundamentally reviewed in light of the Age Discrimination Regulations.

Copyright (c) 2006 Ian Mann

Ian Mann- Employment Barrister

http://www.employment-barrister-uk.com
About the Author:
13 King’s Bench Walk

Ian Mann was called to the Bar in 2000. He practices in employment disputes representing both employers and employees. His employment practice embraces the full spectrum of Employment Tribunal, High Court and appellate work and covers all areas of employment law, especially discrimination.

Ian is able to assist you in the following ways: Provide specialist advice as to a particular legal problem. Represent you or your company in the Employment Tribunal or courts. Advise as to the prospect of success of any litigation. Suggest possible settlement terms if appropriate. Review Human Resources policies. Draft contracts.

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