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The problem is that in reality, it appears that two or three companies have provided, knowingly or not, webmaster info to Acacia.
There is a possiblity that Acacia had one of those badge swiper things in Florida, and got a lot of info on people that way (which is a semi-valid way of making webmaster contact, just not for legal service purposes!). It would also appear that a content company and a webmaster program also provided info.
One thing for sure, January show, if there is a 'scannable" code on my badge, it will get disabled before I go on the show floor, or the badge will stay in my pocket out of site.
Considering the fluid nature of the situation right now, I would not want to be a program owner on either side of things. If you pay Acacia now, you can lose webmasters. If you don't you could lose webmasters as well if you provide linkable content, as Acacia appears to be holding the freesite webmaster responsible for using this content without paying the patent. Which means webmasters may drop from the programs to avoid hassle.
it sucks all around, I hope someone gets a restraining order on these morons (it looks like restraint of trade to me!)
Alex
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