DecorMyEyes

DecorMyEyes is an online retailer specializing in designer eyeglasses.^[1] The site is owned by Vitaly Borker, a Russian-born resident of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, who used the pseudonyms "Tony Russo" and "Stanley Bolds".^[1][2] Borker's sales strategy was that there is 'no such thing as bad publicity': he welcomed online complaints about DecorMyEyes because they caused the site to appear higher in Google search results, improving sales^[1] Borker was arrested in December 2010 and charged with mail fraud, wire fraud and making interstate threats.^[3]

Gaming Google

Customers of DecorMyEyes posted numerous reports of receiving threats, abuse, poor service and overcharges on websites such as ResellerRatings, where DecorMyEyes has, as of 29 October 2010, a lifetime rating of 1.39/10 from 79 reviews. According to Borker, each bad review boosts his site's PageRank, meaning that the site comes top of Google's ratings for many of the products he sells. While a direct Google search for 'DecorMyEyes' elicits the site and its many negative reviews, searching for individual products and brands does not. The reason, cited by an anonymous Google publicist, is that the large number of links to DecorMyEyes from consumer complaint sites such as Ripoff Report cause DecorMyEyes to rank high in Google search results.^[1] Google responded to a New York Times story by writing an algorithm that "detects the merchant from the Times article along with hundreds of other merchants that, in our opinion, provide an extremely poor user experience" and significantly reduces their search visibility on product searches.^[4]

According to Danny Sullivan, formerly of Search Engine Watch, the solution to the problem of bad publicity being as good as good publicity for search engine optimization is to include consumer reviews alongside links to e-commerce websites in search results.^[1]

Federal charges

US Marshals Service mugshot

On December 6, 2010 Vitaly Borker, born 1976, the owner of the firm was arrested by agents of the United States Postal Inspection Service on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, making interstate threats and cyberstalking, and arraigned in the United States District Court in Manhattan. Bail was denied on the basis that he was a threat to the community. A search of the defendant's premises resulted in confiscation of a stock of counterfeit eyeglasses and a few guns. State charges, under investigation, are pending.^[3] After months of confinement in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Borker was freed on bail April 6, 2011 after posting a bond of $1 million and accepting onerous restrictions which included accepting surveillance by a security guard in his home. On May 12, 2011 Borker pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Manhattan to two counts of interstate communication of threats,^[5] one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for September 16, 2011.^[6]

See also

• Criticism of Google
• Google Search Optimization

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} David Segal (2010-11-26). "For DecorMyEyes, Bad publicity is a good thing"". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all. 
2. ^ Joe Coscarelli (2010-11-28). "Vitaly Borker, Thuggish Russia-Born Brooklynite, Stars in Sunday's New York Times". Village Voice (blog). http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/11/vitaly_borker_t.php. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Segal, David (December 6, 2010). "U.S. Arrests Online Seller Who Scared Customers". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/business/07borker.html. Retrieved December 7, 2010. 
4. ^ Amit Singhal (2010-12-01). "Being bad to your customers is bad for business". The official Google Blog. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/being-bad-to-your-customers-is-bad-for.html. 
5. ^ "Title 18 U.S.C. 875(c)". Cornell University Law School. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/875.html. Retrieved May 13, 2011. "(c) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both." 
6. ^ Segal, David (May 12, 2011). "Online Seller Who Bullied Customers Pleads Guilty". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/business/13borker.html. Retrieved May 13, 2011. 

External links

• ResellerRatings reviews
• Better Business Bureau report