今日、われわれは 2002年にInfospaceを去ったNaveen Jainによって創立された株式公開準備中のInteliusなる企業が行っている悪どいアンケート詐欺商法について報じた。この仕組みは、消費者がクレジットカードで物品の購入を終えた後、$10のキャッシュバックが得られると称してアンケートに誘い込むものだ。見にくい細字で書かれた注意書きには、消費者がクレジットカード情報を第三者に開示することに同意する条項が含まれている。アンケートに答えた消費者は自動的にあるサービスの代金として毎月$20を継続的に支払う契約を結ぶよう促されるが、このサービスたるやまったく内容のない名目だけのもの。

われわれはさらにInteliusのほとんどの売り上げ増はこのアンケート商法から生じていることを発見し、株式上場準備に携わってきた弁護士、投資銀行家、会計士が数ヶ月にわたるデューディリジェンス調査を行ったはずであるのにこの問題に気づかなかったことを指摘した。

Naveen Jainの息子Ankur Jain（上の写真でRichard Bransonといっしょに写っている）は、これに対して、Facebookを通じて私にメッセージを送ってきた。Ankurはそのメッセージで、父親を弁護し、われわれの記事は情報が不十分であり誤解を招くものだと主張している。

Ankurは問題のメールで多くの論点を主張している。その中でも重要ななのは次のような点だ。たとえば、Ankurは「父はInfoSpaceのインサイダー取引事件で完全に潔白であることが証明されている、したがってSeattleTimesの父が事件に関わったとする記事記事は誤りだ」と主張している。（Naveen Jainに関するSeattle Timesの3回にわたる連載記事ここに）。しかし私が裁判記録を調べたところでは、とういてい「潔白が証明された」などとは言えない。それに対してSeattle Timesの記事はよく調査され、客観的に報道していると思われる。簡単に言えばNaveen JainはInfoSpaceでかなりの悪事を働いており、相当額の罰金、科料を課せられている。

Ankurはまた「Inteliusは自分が経験したもっとも強力なビジネスモデル」だと主張、Adaptive Marketingと称するアンケートを装ったクレジットカードによる引き落とし商法は「合法的なサービスだ」としている。私が当初の記事に書いたとおり、Inteliusでショッピングをしたユーザー全員をアンケートを装って「自発的な」サービスの購入に誘い込む仕組みは詐欺的である。私にはAnkurの主張はいずれも全く承伏しがたいものだ。数百人に上る消費者も同様の意見であり、消費者センターその他の組織に苦情がもちこまれている。

Ankurのメッセージの全文は以下のとおり（英文）。

I’ve been an avid reader of tech crunch for quite some time now, and have often enjoyed the articles you write on interesting startups. This just makes it all the more disappointing that you would write such a misleading and naive blog post on Intelius and my father, Naveen. I wanted to take this chance to not only respond to some of your false accusations, but also to clear the record for my fellow readers of tech crunch. In the past you have often strived for excellence and honesty, and so I hope you will take this opportunity to correct some of the wrongs you have written.

First I’d like to address your concern with Intelius and then the more important matter, my dad’s character. Someone who does as much technology reporting as yourself should be pretty familiar with companies such as Adaptive Marketing and how their product is integrated into services across the web. The service, similar to WebLoyalty, offers the users the ability to receive an offer that is relevant to their purchases by signing up for a free 7-day trial with a adaptive marketing [which can be canceled for no charge at any point in those 7 days]. Adaptive Marketing then provides that user with targeted offers and savings for as long as he or she remains a member. In fact, adaptive marketing provides this same offer through many other large web services. To call this a scam on Intelius, you would have to consider a series of other large companies including VistaPrint, Buy.com, Transunion scams as well [they all provide similar offers after checkout]. And frankly none of these companies are scammers whatsoever. Further, Intelius has one of the strongest business models I have come across with one of the most passionate set of leaders in the online industry. More importantly, these directors have an unbelievably high level of integrity. Take for example the chairman, Admiral William Owens. Among his many qualifications, Admiral Owens was Vice Joint Chief of Staffs for the US and CEO of Nortell. He is widely regarded as one of the most genuine and respected leaders in today’s global economy – and has shown his full support of the executive team by joining as chairman of Intelius.

But the most important thing I would like to address is my dad’s character. Outside of the corporate world, my dad has long been a supporter of many noteworthy organizations including United Way, Children’s Hospital, the University of Washington, TIE, Child Relief and You, and many more. He has taken the initiative to actively guide and mentor many young entrepreneurs in the country, thereby helping to lead the next generation of innovators and leaders to success. Yet, even within the corporate world, he has shown a strong conscience and high integrity. It is unfortunate the false allegations such as those made in the Seattle Times continue to circulate the web. But I would have expected a write like yourself to do some more research before referring to this article. For starters, I would recommend looking into the SEC letter or federal investigation, both clearing my father of any wrongdoing. At Infospace, he helped lead innovate some of the most used web services today. It is unfortunate that the stock price fell during the dot-com crash. Yet, keep in mind that unlike thousands of other companies that completely crashed during that time, my dad kept Infospace afloat and when he left the company, Infospace still had nearly $300 million in cash. With this new venture, Intelius, he has inspired many who have joined and built a service which is so crucial in today’s world. Intelius is offering millions of users the ability to arm themselves with knowledge– thereby protecting themselves from potentially dangerous associates and from Identity theft.

I urge you Michael to be more careful in the posts you place on Tech Crunch. Such a well respected blog cannot afford to post uninformed and/or misleading posts. I look forward to hearing from you & if you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to email me or contact me at [REMOVED].

Best,
Ankur Jain

[原文へ]

（翻訳：Namekawa, U）