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> How does one not be herded like cattle by the corporations, without making a full time job of resisting it? Legal protection is necessary, and that's what wo
by hackuser 10y ago
> How does one not be herded like cattle by the corporations, without making a full time job of resisting it?
Legal protection is necessary, and that's what works in other industries. It's not a fair negotiation, between a company's teams of engineers, management, and attorneys on one side, and a lone individual on the other. Financial firms, for example, can't just put whatever they want in agreements or do whatever they want.
EDIT: The solution of informed consent doesn't work. Consumers don't have time to become informed, which requires not only reading every click-wrap agreement but understanding the technology (remember the solution must work for all users, not only the HN crowd but people who don't know what a web browser is), and understanding privacy and its consequences, and then starting that process over again to find an alternative that meets their needs - for every technology in the stack. It's unrealistic in theory, and in practice obviously doesn't work: Almost nobody, even the HN crowd, is informed.
- __jal 10y agoPeople need to start thinking of web forms, solicitations for email address, etc. like people used to think of the Columbia House record/CD club. There may be an instant-gratification payoff, but you'll regret it at leisure. Or, would you take a free sample to munch on if they first presented you with a 34-page legal agreement?
- pessimizer 10y agoPeople rarely regretted joining Columbia House, so I'm not sure what you're referring to here. They really did give you a billion records for a penny, and all you had to do was opt out every month (or opt in, they had a lot of really good records in that catalog in the 90s at least.) They relied on people repeatedly forgetting to opt out, not the blatant subterfuge of modern business models. http://www.avclub.com/article/four-columbia-house-insiders-explain-shady-math-be-219964 http://www.avclub.com/article/four-columbia-house-insiders-e...
- __jal 10y agoI'm sure there were more than one person who liked it, so yes, I suspect it is true to say 'people' rarely regretted it. I know I did, when I joined them on a lark in college. They were literally a joke (several, actually) at the time. Consumer reports was overflowing with complaints. The only people I knew who didn't regret it were the ones who were cheating. > They relied on people repeatedly forgetting to opt out, not the blatant subterfuge of modern business models. I understand that others see things differently, and if you liked them, great for you. But businesses who rely on customers making mistakes about their own best interests are slime, in my view, and in that of many others.
- notlisted 10y agoFunny you should say that, because I loved Columbia House. Not just the cheap initial CDs, but the "surprise" CD picks they sent my way (94-99). Come to think of it, most of my CD 'collection' came from CH. Once listen.com launched (later Rhapsody, now Napster), I never bought another CD again.