It appears that Congress is “taking action” on the only time scale they are able – years. Given that we’re already in the holiday shopping season, do you know of a repository of ALL the sites that use these deceptive practices? I think a ban by consumers of using those vendors would be far more effective, especially in the short term, it preventing their use. If the original vendors lose sales due to their participation in these deceptive practices, it would level the playing field against the attractive, easy profits they offer.

Here’s an excerpt from the Staff Report “AGGRESSIVE SALES
TACTICS ON THE INTERNET AND THEIR IMPACT ON AMERICAN CONSUMERS” on the topic, heavily quoted in the committee hearings:
“Financial information provided to the Committee by the companies shows that Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty and their e-commerce partners have generated over $1.4 billion in revenue from Internet consumers who have been charged for membership programs. Of the $1.4 billion in total revenue, $792 million went to the e-commerce companies that partnered with
Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty.”
Full report available here: http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/111609STAFFREPORT.pdf
At least the 3-page Executive Summary is worth reading for anyone who buys online.

The point of the excerpt is that, on average, over 56% of the revenue goes back to the e-tailer. Any idea how we can setup a site that publishes exactly which sites are doing this and how? Perhaps user-submitted screenshots would help guide us away from these companies and we can shop at their competitors.