by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Part of my aspirational mission as Structured Settlement Watchdog has been and continues to be to help consumers have the clearest path to accurate information about structured settlements. No doubt my readers have seen a number of posts over the years critical of Annuty.org. The criticism is for good reason because their quality of work is consistently poorly researched in my opinion (as I have clearly documented in each critical post). That may not matter to CBC Settlement Funding, its long time ultimate beneficiary, but it matters to me, and I believe it matters to lawyers, consumers and others evaluating structured settlements. Why waste a consumer's time?
In February 2016, I published a post " Annuity.org is Not a Dependable Source of Information About Structured Settlements". In that post I accused Annuity.org of poorly disguised plagiarism of a chart that I personally created in 2008, well before Annuity.org started shilling for CBC Settlement Funding and others. As usual, I provided a very detailed critique of why what Annuity.org posted and why/what was inaccurate. The post speaks for itself. Instead of learning from that critique, Annuity.org filed a DMCA notice* claiming copyright infringement for a chart they essentially plagiarized from me, that you can see differs from mine by the "ancient looking" clip art they used. The text and other elements of the chart were substantially identical to the one I produced and displayed in the post on our site.
Source: Lumen.org The Lumen database collects and analyzes legal complaints and requests for removal of online materials, helping Internet users to know their rights and understand the law. These data enable people to study the prevalence of legal threats and let Internet users see the source of content removals.
What Does Fair Use Mean?
According to the American Bar Association "Fair use is a doctrine that is used to encourage criticism and commentary of copyrighted works. It is based on the concept that one should be free to use portions of copyrighted materials without asking permission from the copyright owner".
In one notable case, which arose from Stephanie Lenz posting a 29 second video on YouTube of her toddler dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”. Universal, which holds the rights to the Prince catalog, filed a DMCA take down notice with YouTube claiming Lenz's video infringed on their copyright. Lenz filed a counter notice. The Ninth Circuit held that copyright owners must consider “fair use” issues before a right-holder files a DMCA take-down notice with an online service provider.
I really wish it were not necessary to critique work published by Annuity.org, but after more than 4 years they evidently just don't care about the mediocrity on show.
All they seem to care about is SEO and up to 4 solicitations to readers to sell their structured settlement payments, It's not like accurate information is not available from which to create works which dispense accurate information. The purported fact checking and journalistic standards they espouse and purport to uphold, are easily impeachable by knowledgeable structured settlement experts, in my opinion.
Here are a couple of examples of ongoing slurry displayed in an April 20, 2021 post about structured settlements for "der kinder" that was purportedly "updated"
- "When courts decide or plaintiffs and defendants settle large cases that involve children, the financial result takes into account the child’s long-term stability".
- "Today, structured settlement annuities make up the overwhelming majority of lawsuit awards" No it doesn't.
- "The yield typically ranges between 3 – 10 percent" No it doesn't
- "There are several agencies that may receive and protect the settlement payments on the minor’s behalf" No explanation provided. Random nonsense
- "When designing the structured settlement, the court carefully evaluates every possible recipient to select the one that will protect the child’s best interest until they reach age 18"
The Annuity.org ruse has been up for a long time. Saying something is fact checked and displaying the purported fact checker and his or her credentials is just not believable as my documented critiques provided.
Again, when it comes to structured settlements, theirs is a brand that generates leads for a factoring company or companies that pay pennies on the dollar. The dead give away is the 3-4 calls to action about selling your payments. Anybody who visits Annuity.org can see that for themselves
When drinking from the fountain of knowledge you need a reliable stream of information
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