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TripAdvisor hopes that jail time will scare off the dishonest folks creating fake reviews. We hope so, too. That's the take of the Skift travel blog? No descri

TripAdvisor hopes that jail time will scare off the dishonest folks creating fake reviews. We hope so, too. That's the take of the Skift travel blog? No description in the article about the law that was broken and whether or not it can be applied to violators outside of Italy. And, honestly, if peddlers of fake reviews are criminally liable and can be sentenced to jail then there's a problem with the law. TripAdvisor, Amazon, Apple, and Google definitely need to boost the disincentives for posting fake reviews, but referring suspected offenders for criminal prosecution is over the top unless fraud or other serious crimes are involved.

rootlocus 8y ago
> No description in the article about the law that was broken Not sure how legally accurate, but they did quote someone from TripAdvisor on the matter: > “Writing fake reviews has always been fraud, but this is the first time we’ve seen someone sent to jail as a result,” said Brad Young, vice president, associate general counsel at TripAdvisor, in a statement.
ransom1538 8y ago
Trip advisor: “here is the IP address used for the fake review - you can tell it is fake” Government raids house. Government: “case closed we got the bastard. He keeps crying he is innocent - but it was his ip.”
- vectorEQ 8y ago
  "intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right." is the attribution here perhaps perversion of truth to rob this poor man of his free life? maybe the government is committing fraud by attributing this to him? xD
IshKebab 8y ago
Writing fake reviews is fraud.
dsajames 8y ago
It's fraud, subject to jail just like other types of fraud.
djrogers 8y ago
> unless fraud or other serious crimes are involved Fraud: wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain Pretending to be someone you're not to make money by lying is fraud, plain and simple.
- ilamont 8y ago
  So every fake review is to be treated as a case of full-on criminal fraud? These cases need to be pursued in civil court, if at all. A better approach is for TripAdvisor, Amazon, et al is A) set up a better system to positively identify fake reviews and B) to ban both the providers and purchasers of fake reviews, including owners, senior executives, and colluding staff. If the disincentives are strong enough and consistently and fairly enforced a lot of bad actors will be cleared out in short order and responsible companies won't go near this stuff.
  - toss1 8y ago
    The person was making a business of it, it was not just a casual, occasional lie. This is systemically poisoning the well of public trust upon which society relies to function. We only have a prosperous society because we have widespread trustworthyness. You propose that breaking it down is meaningless.
toss1 8y ago
>> if peddlers of fake reviews are criminally liable and can be sentenced to jail then there's a problem with the law. Do you come from a background where crime and fraud is normal? This is outright fraud, plain and simple. They are paid to making false representations in order to deceive people and get their money. By your logic, you'd be OK with it if I posted that the car I was selling worked great, but after you sent me the money and got the car, you found that the engine had blown a connecting rod through the case that wasn't pictured and the body was totally rusted out under a thin layer of paint. No crime, just a bad review. Oh well. It is about time someone was jailed for this sort of polluting the common well of society, and it's appropriate that it was someone who had a business perpetrating such fraud.
- autokad 8y ago
  > "By your logic, you'd be OK with it if I posted that the car I was selling worked great, but after you sent me the money and got the car, you found that the engine had blown a connecting rod through the case that wasn't pictured and the body was totally rusted out under a thin layer of paint. No crime, just a bad review. Oh well." I am not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that is civil court, not criminal. > "It is about time someone was jailed for this sort of polluting the common well of society" I don't know what specifically, but this comment makes me very uneasy. At the very least, I do not consider TripAdvisor the common well of society.
  - toss1 8y ago
    >I am not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that is civil court, not criminal. Nope, it can be both civil and/or criminal, it's only a matter of whether it is a private party or an official prosecutor pursuing the case: https://bochettoandlentz.com/criminal-fraud-vs-civil-fraud-whats-difference/ https://bochettoandlentz.com/criminal-fraud-vs-civil-fraud-w... "..the basic difference between criminal fraud and civil fraud lies in who is pursuing legal action in the case. A single act of fraud can be prosecuted as a criminal fraud by prosecutors, and also as a civil action by the party that was the victim of the misrepresentation..." >>I do not consider TripAdvisor the common well of society. It is a business that earns its living by using one of the common wells of society. Think for just 1 second -- if no one trusted anyone, a business like TripAdvisor could never even consider existing -- no one would do anything but laugh at the concept that another stranger could give them advice that could be useful or accurate. It is obviously not the only well, it is just one locus among many, which happens to earn it's living entirely by the existence of trust and willingness of people to help others. The jailed person is specifically trying to earn his living by putting poison in that well. Some penitence might do him some good, and at least does the rest of us good by removing him from this activity for a while, and perhaps deterring him and others from this anti-social behaviour. Why do you think anti-social behaviour is OK? (serious question)

rootlocus 8y ago

> No description in the article about the law that was broken Not sure how legally accurate, but they did quote someone from TripAdvisor on the matter: > “Writing fake reviews has always been fraud, but this is the first time we’ve seen someone sent to jail as a result,” said Brad Young, vice president, associate general counsel at TripAdvisor, in a statement.

ransom1538 8y ago

Trip advisor: “here is the IP address used for the fake review - you can tell it is fake” Government raids house. Government: “case closed we got the bastard. He keeps crying he is innocent - but it was his ip.”

vectorEQ 8y ago
"intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right." is the attribution here perhaps perversion of truth to rob this poor man of his free life? maybe the government is committing fraud by attributing this to him? xD

IshKebab 8y ago

Writing fake reviews is fraud.

dsajames 8y ago

It's fraud, subject to jail just like other types of fraud.

djrogers 8y ago

> unless fraud or other serious crimes are involved Fraud: wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain Pretending to be someone you're not to make money by lying is fraud, plain and simple.

ilamont 8y ago
So every fake review is to be treated as a case of full-on criminal fraud? These cases need to be pursued in civil court, if at all. A better approach is for TripAdvisor, Amazon, et al is A) set up a better system to positively identify fake reviews and B) to ban both the providers and purchasers of fake reviews, including owners, senior executives, and colluding staff. If the disincentives are strong enough and consistently and fairly enforced a lot of bad actors will be cleared out in short order and responsible companies won't go near this stuff.
- toss1 8y ago
  The person was making a business of it, it was not just a casual, occasional lie. This is systemically poisoning the well of public trust upon which society relies to function. We only have a prosperous society because we have widespread trustworthyness. You propose that breaking it down is meaningless.

toss1 8y ago

>> if peddlers of fake reviews are criminally liable and can be sentenced to jail then there's a problem with the law. Do you come from a background where crime and fraud is normal? This is outright fraud, plain and simple. They are paid to making false representations in order to deceive people and get their money. By your logic, you'd be OK with it if I posted that the car I was selling worked great, but after you sent me the money and got the car, you found that the engine had blown a connecting rod through the case that wasn't pictured and the body was totally rusted out under a thin layer of paint. No crime, just a bad review. Oh well. It is about time someone was jailed for this sort of polluting the common well of society, and it's appropriate that it was someone who had a business perpetrating such fraud.

autokad 8y ago
> "By your logic, you'd be OK with it if I posted that the car I was selling worked great, but after you sent me the money and got the car, you found that the engine had blown a connecting rod through the case that wasn't pictured and the body was totally rusted out under a thin layer of paint. No crime, just a bad review. Oh well." I am not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that is civil court, not criminal. > "It is about time someone was jailed for this sort of polluting the common well of society" I don't know what specifically, but this comment makes me very uneasy. At the very least, I do not consider TripAdvisor the common well of society.
- toss1 8y ago
  >I am not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that is civil court, not criminal. Nope, it can be both civil and/or criminal, it's only a matter of whether it is a private party or an official prosecutor pursuing the case: https://bochettoandlentz.com/criminal-fraud-vs-civil-fraud-whats-difference/ https://bochettoandlentz.com/criminal-fraud-vs-civil-fraud-w... "..the basic difference between criminal fraud and civil fraud lies in who is pursuing legal action in the case. A single act of fraud can be prosecuted as a criminal fraud by prosecutors, and also as a civil action by the party that was the victim of the misrepresentation..." >>I do not consider TripAdvisor the common well of society. It is a business that earns its living by using one of the common wells of society. Think for just 1 second -- if no one trusted anyone, a business like TripAdvisor could never even consider existing -- no one would do anything but laugh at the concept that another stranger could give them advice that could be useful or accurate. It is obviously not the only well, it is just one locus among many, which happens to earn it's living entirely by the existence of trust and willingness of people to help others. The jailed person is specifically trying to earn his living by putting poison in that well. Some penitence might do him some good, and at least does the rest of us good by removing him from this activity for a while, and perhaps deterring him and others from this anti-social behaviour. Why do you think anti-social behaviour is OK? (serious question)