by Barry Campbell
The tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut has stirred up several debates; including gun control, the use of psychiatric drugs, God in school, and media coverage of such tragic events. In regard to the last one, I will not even mention the killer's name, but let us all remember those of the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary:
But what prompts me to write this now is an article published by the Editor-in-Chief of an industry magazine that offers no such suggestions and seems to want to use the event to push an unrelated agenda. Out of the limited respect I have for this person and the publication, I will not name them, but I will quote from the article. He states that his “normal sales pitch as a locksmith was to tell people that locks were for honest people.” It is no wonder to me that he believes the public has little regard for the locksmithing profession when he shows such contempt for the industry himself. If the locksmith can only protect people from “honest people,” what is the point? While it is true that a determined criminal can find a way to eventually circumvent virtually any security device, that is a far cry from only offering protection from honest people. Every step taken to deter or delay someone with criminal intent makes it that much less likely they will succeed. He further states that, “[i]t is up to manufacturers to make locks better than just good enough for honest people.” While that may be somewhat true of the brands commonly found at the big-box stores, I think most professional locksmiths already use and recommend locks capable of keeping more than just “honest people” from bypassing them. More to the point, my understanding of the events in Newtown includes the killer breaking glass in order to make entry to the school. I would suggest that the use of a product such as ShatterGARD® available from Jordan Frankel and Global Security Experts, Inc would have delayed, if not prevented, his unauthorized entry. Obviously, prevention is best, but any delay would have allowed more time for authorities to respond, which is critical in any situation such as this. Sadly, it seems the killer had relatively free movement once he made entry to the school. Hopefully, any professional locksmith would have recommended intruder-function locksets on the classroom doors. Again, the technology has been around for years, available from several manufacturers. They do not need to “make locks better,” we just need to promote the appropriate hardware that is already available. Finally, he adds that, “[i]t is also necessary for every locksmith in the lock industry to broaden their image from key makers to security consultants, professionals who can select, furnish and install security products required in this new era.” He has already denigrated the locksmith profession but, somehow, calling ourselves something different would be an improvement, when he does not even mention the available products that a professional locksmith could have recommended and installed? In fact, the editor, who I assume considers himself a security professional added that, “Sandy Hook school had reportedly taken some of the current suggested security precautions and thought that they were prepared.” If that is true, I would take the recommendations of a professional locksmith over a security consultant any day.
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In the following blog entry you will learn the truth about the deceptive marketing using search engines and deceptive SEO which is being used against many small businesses and your local locksmith. Years ago while broadcasting from the home grown niche Internet radio program known as LOCK Radio (LR), I was the first to educate the misled locksmiths about the power of the Lanham Act and how it was relevant in the issue of scammers and the deceptive marketing practices going on. Some in the locksmith industry sought to use the issue as their new rallying cry for licensing. Unfortunately, in my opinion it was being used to leverage the emotions of others by making them feel that they had no choice if they wished to stop these scammers. This may have worked if it were the truth, but it never was, and LOCK Radio warned everyone that it was not. Many fell for it and are now saddled with regulatory compliance that is killing their businesses, and strapping their operating budget with no signs that such regulation has had any impact. LOCK Radio was the original Internet based "Security Industry Global Broadcast Network" and it allowed the locksmiths to hear the truth of what was going on around them. So here we are 6 years later and we find a J.D. Candidate Victor T. Nilsson at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law presenting some of the same reasoning we discussed. The SOPL news blog story of how the 1-800-UNLOCKS service can be a helpful and trusted solution was noted on page 816 of the Arizone Law Review and from the looks it the author din't think it was such a bad idea, although not the cure all. http://www.sopl.us/4/post/2010/12/1-800-unlocks-is-a-legitimate-dispatch-service.html Take the time and download the provided /pdf file and notice the following: #1 - He identifies "Deceptive SEO that frequently hurts consumers and the marketplace" #2 - He also identifies that this is not an "exclusive issue to the locksmith industry". #3 - He directly points to the need for regulation of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) service providers and or the search engine manipulation that results in the deceptive marketing practices. Not once was it observed to be the cause of the hard working locksmiths. So the excuse that we need and want regulation for the locksmiths themselves is a dishonest excuse. |
arizona_law_review.pdf | |
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Deceptive marketing has hurt consumers and business owners since the birth of promotional advertising. As the Internet increasingly inspires and dictates our consumption choices, even sophisticated business acumen and technological savvy are not enough to withstand the harmful consequences. While lawmakers and courts have fashioned remedies applicable to some misleading practices, sly marketers with deep pockets frequently find new ways to trick unsuspecting shoppers and seize market share. This Note therefore provides a novel interpretation of prior scholarship to recommend a solution to a particularly misleading marketing practice—deceptive search engine optimization—in order to bolster currently available, yet independently inadequate, alternatives. Although some of the problems associated with deceptive search engine optimization have caught the media’s eye as of late, a much-needed solution is heretofore unexplored in law review literature
CONCLUSION
As the Internet increasingly inspires and dictates our consumption choices, even sophisticated business acumen and technological savvy are not enough to prevent the harmful consequences associated with deceptive SEO. Consumers suffer when they receive irrelevant or low-quality search results and by implication miss what they are looking for, such as a locksmith after locking
themselves out of their car.The negative impact is compounded if increased marketing costs are reallocated to customers in the form of higher prices. Meanwhile, businesses that lack the necessary resources to utilize SEO run into tough or even impossible competition.This Note recommends a novel solution to deceptive SEO. While a number of remedies currently exist—self-policing by search engines, market discipline, the FTC Act, the Lanham Act, and applicable state laws—they all fail to provide a sufficiently comprehensive or permanent remedy. A complementary solution is therefore fundamental to halting future abusive SEO. Under these circumstances, Congress is the appropriate authority to initiate regulation of SEO practitioners who use search engines to deceptively market goods and services.
By Barry Campbell, Managing Director SOPL
Kerrville Texas, Kerr County Texas 2012 -
Texas locksmith, Elvis Hernandez, had been working as a locksmith for about 10 years before being deployed to the Middle East to serve a 4-year stint in the Iraq War. This U.S. Army combat veteran, who had been awarded the ultimate symbol of sacrifice - a Purple Heart and an Honorable Discharge, returned home to the challenge of rebuilding his business and serving his community.
Mr. Hernandez has the additional challenge of being a single father, but he also has the support of many others in the locksmithing community in the San Antonio area, recently being named to the Board of the San Antonio Locksmith Association and having a positive employment history with IDN Acme, a locksmith distributor.
Given his military service and the respect and praise given him by his friends, former employers, and co-workers; it is no surprise that Elvis Hernandez has a strong sense of civic duty. But it is equally a shame that his sense of compassion and concern for others has led to him being barred from practicing as a professional locksmith.
Late this last spring, on the way to a job, he saw a small dog wandering loose on a highway where speeding cars were passing. He stopped to rescue the dog, which had no collar, leash, or identification and at risk of becoming roadkill.
He asked his customer if they knew who the owner of the dog was. When the job was completed, he left his contact information with the customer who lived in the area in case the owner came looking for the dog. Mr. Hernandez cared for the dog briefly, but had to give the dog to a relative because the lost dog did not get along with a dog he already owned. That was not permanent either, but at least the dog was not left to roam along a highway in harms way.
Months later, Mr. Hernandez received a call from the customer, who had eventually heard from the alleged owner of the dog. At this point, Mr. Hernandez was no longer aware of the location of the stray dog he had rescued. Subsequently, he was contacted by the owners of a lost dog, then by the Kerr County Sheriff. The now-irate owner has decided to press property theft charges against Hernandez, who has since been arrested on the misdemeanor charge and had to be fingerprinted, have a mug shot taken, and spend over 24 hours in jail, before being released on bond, pending trial.
The whole story sounds ridiculous enough at this point – a negligent owner charging a good Samaritan with theft of their dog without any evidence that the rescued dog was, in fact, their lost dog; and the arrest and pending prosecution for property theft, months after the fact, of someone who left their contact information in the hope of reuniting the owner with their dog. Thieves don't do that!
But things have become much worse for Mr. Hernandez. Nothing less than a tragedy, he has been barred from practicing his chosen profession. Because he has been charged with a crime, his locksmith license has been summarily suspended by the State of Texas Department of Public Safety without a hearing. His business has been effectively shut down.
His friends in the locksmith community are barred from employing his skills as a locksmith. The damage being done to Mr. Hernandez's reputation is not the result of the actions of a negligent dog owner; it is not the result of what has every characteristic of overzealous law enforcement and malicious prosecution; it is purely and simply the result of the locksmith licensing law.
What would have been a bump in the road of his life has become a complete roadblock. Even if the charges are dropped or he is acquitted, it could easily take months for him to regain his license, under the locksmith licensing law.
As bad as the other circumstances have been, the effects of the locksmith licensing law has been devastating. He could run for Mayor, Governor, or even President of the United States, but he can't work as a locksmith simply because of the locksmith licensing law.
Those who have supported such laws should be ashamed at their results. Supposedly, these laws were enacted to put scammers out of business, but how many of them have been prosecuted under the locksmith licensing laws? As he served our country, Mr. Hernandez probably felt that he was supporting certain ideals, such as innocent until proven guilty. Little did he know that he would be presumed guilty until proven innocent by laws purporting to protect the industry he worked in.
Ironically, Mr. Hernandez said that he supported the initial efforts to license locksmiths in Texas, though he felt that the moneyed interests supporting licensing laws created a system far different than what the local locksmiths had envisioned.
This should serve as a warning to those who think there is any merit to government interference and regulation of the industry. It is reprehensible and inexcusable that a decorated war veteran should become a victim, collateral damage, in the supposed war against locksmith scammers.
Kerrville Texas, Kerr County Texas 2012 -
Texas locksmith, Elvis Hernandez, had been working as a locksmith for about 10 years before being deployed to the Middle East to serve a 4-year stint in the Iraq War. This U.S. Army combat veteran, who had been awarded the ultimate symbol of sacrifice - a Purple Heart and an Honorable Discharge, returned home to the challenge of rebuilding his business and serving his community.
Mr. Hernandez has the additional challenge of being a single father, but he also has the support of many others in the locksmithing community in the San Antonio area, recently being named to the Board of the San Antonio Locksmith Association and having a positive employment history with IDN Acme, a locksmith distributor.
Given his military service and the respect and praise given him by his friends, former employers, and co-workers; it is no surprise that Elvis Hernandez has a strong sense of civic duty. But it is equally a shame that his sense of compassion and concern for others has led to him being barred from practicing as a professional locksmith.
Late this last spring, on the way to a job, he saw a small dog wandering loose on a highway where speeding cars were passing. He stopped to rescue the dog, which had no collar, leash, or identification and at risk of becoming roadkill.
He asked his customer if they knew who the owner of the dog was. When the job was completed, he left his contact information with the customer who lived in the area in case the owner came looking for the dog. Mr. Hernandez cared for the dog briefly, but had to give the dog to a relative because the lost dog did not get along with a dog he already owned. That was not permanent either, but at least the dog was not left to roam along a highway in harms way.
Months later, Mr. Hernandez received a call from the customer, who had eventually heard from the alleged owner of the dog. At this point, Mr. Hernandez was no longer aware of the location of the stray dog he had rescued. Subsequently, he was contacted by the owners of a lost dog, then by the Kerr County Sheriff. The now-irate owner has decided to press property theft charges against Hernandez, who has since been arrested on the misdemeanor charge and had to be fingerprinted, have a mug shot taken, and spend over 24 hours in jail, before being released on bond, pending trial.
The whole story sounds ridiculous enough at this point – a negligent owner charging a good Samaritan with theft of their dog without any evidence that the rescued dog was, in fact, their lost dog; and the arrest and pending prosecution for property theft, months after the fact, of someone who left their contact information in the hope of reuniting the owner with their dog. Thieves don't do that!
But things have become much worse for Mr. Hernandez. Nothing less than a tragedy, he has been barred from practicing his chosen profession. Because he has been charged with a crime, his locksmith license has been summarily suspended by the State of Texas Department of Public Safety without a hearing. His business has been effectively shut down.
His friends in the locksmith community are barred from employing his skills as a locksmith. The damage being done to Mr. Hernandez's reputation is not the result of the actions of a negligent dog owner; it is not the result of what has every characteristic of overzealous law enforcement and malicious prosecution; it is purely and simply the result of the locksmith licensing law.
What would have been a bump in the road of his life has become a complete roadblock. Even if the charges are dropped or he is acquitted, it could easily take months for him to regain his license, under the locksmith licensing law.
As bad as the other circumstances have been, the effects of the locksmith licensing law has been devastating. He could run for Mayor, Governor, or even President of the United States, but he can't work as a locksmith simply because of the locksmith licensing law.
Those who have supported such laws should be ashamed at their results. Supposedly, these laws were enacted to put scammers out of business, but how many of them have been prosecuted under the locksmith licensing laws? As he served our country, Mr. Hernandez probably felt that he was supporting certain ideals, such as innocent until proven guilty. Little did he know that he would be presumed guilty until proven innocent by laws purporting to protect the industry he worked in.
Ironically, Mr. Hernandez said that he supported the initial efforts to license locksmiths in Texas, though he felt that the moneyed interests supporting licensing laws created a system far different than what the local locksmiths had envisioned.
This should serve as a warning to those who think there is any merit to government interference and regulation of the industry. It is reprehensible and inexcusable that a decorated war veteran should become a victim, collateral damage, in the supposed war against locksmith scammers.
The Society of Professional Locksmiths has been warning the locksmith industry
of the perils of the slippery slope. The days of warning are over.
The damage is done.
Tom Lynch, Founder & Director of the SOPL
Thank you Elvis for your service to our country
&
and for saving the stray dog!
Additional References -
Huffington Post - Elvis Hernandez Rescues Dog, Finds It New Home, Gets Arrested
KENS5 News San Antonio - Big trouble over little dog: S.A. man jailed over untagged Dachshund
T.F. Stern -Presumption of Guilt
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