4 ms·

How on earth is google not being sued every day? It seems like once a week there's a new HN post about some kind of massive screwing they deliver to a customer

How on earth is google not being sued every day? It seems like once a week there's a new HN post about some kind of massive screwing they deliver to a customer.

viiralvx 7y ago
As a friend once described to me, they probably have the legal resources of a small country/nation, so there's that.
- paultopia 7y ago
  Truth.
- ianai 7y ago
  This is the danger in the free economy. Without proper regulation, powers concentrate and people have the shirts on their backs sold from them.
  - dnautics 7y ago
    The damning thing is that also with "proper regulation", powers concentrate, and people have the shirts on their backs sold to them.
heartbreak 7y ago
They do get sued pretty much every day, though this sort of thing is not specifically the reason.
anarazel 7y ago
I don't want to click far enough into the signup to get to an actual contract, but I'd be extremely surprised if it didn't have an arbitration clause as requirement. For some things you can opt out of arbitration, but not for others. The online fi related contract (which I obviously not the actual carrier contract) I found is: https://fi.google.com/about/device-protection-terms/ https://fi.google.com/about/device-protection-terms/ which indeed has a mandatory arbitration clause. It's high time that the arbitration act gets dramatically scaled back. I don't have problems with reasonably sized companies agreeing to arbitration in contracts with each other, but it doesn't work for end users and employees.
- user5994461 7y ago
  Arbitration is void in Europe. That's 500 million people who can sue them. However, given that it takes years for any case to settle, if you could even find how to start the process in the first place, that ain't happening.
  - anarazel 7y ago
    Isn't project fi exclusively a US thing? Why wouldn't google just get it thrown out due to lack of jurisdiction when sued in Europe?
    - user5994461 7y ago
      Don't know about Fi. I am thinking of the other products that Google sells, none of which has any support.
dfrage 7y ago
For lots of people, because that would cost them all their other Google accounts and services. The OP would have to give up on Android development. I am former Fi user, started back when it was a "Project". My Nexus 5X's battery swelled but was still working and had a full charge, they wanted me to ship it back to them which I morally felt I couldn't do, and replace it with a generally low quality Lenovo Motorola phone that was reported to have serious WiFi problems, negating that major part of their business proposition where it uses any accessible WiFi for data and voice if possible. Felt stupid for having paid them $5/month for device replacement coverage. The G+ real names debacle prompted me to remove as much exposure to Google as possible, now I'm down to Google Groups which can only be had from them. They're just too risky for individuals to depend on.

How on earth is google not being sued every day? It seems like once a week there's a new HN post about some kind of massive screwing they deliver to a customer.

viiralvx 7y ago

As a friend once described to me, they probably have the legal resources of a small country/nation, so there's that.

paultopia 7y ago
Truth.
ianai 7y ago
This is the danger in the free economy. Without proper regulation, powers concentrate and people have the shirts on their backs sold from them.
- dnautics 7y ago
  The damning thing is that also with "proper regulation", powers concentrate, and people have the shirts on their backs sold to them.

heartbreak 7y ago

They do get sued pretty much every day, though this sort of thing is not specifically the reason.

anarazel 7y ago

I don't want to click far enough into the signup to get to an actual contract, but I'd be extremely surprised if it didn't have an arbitration clause as requirement. For some things you can opt out of arbitration, but not for others. The online fi related contract (which I obviously not the actual carrier contract) I found is: https://fi.google.com/about/device-protection-terms/ https://fi.google.com/about/device-protection-terms/ which indeed has a mandatory arbitration clause. It's high time that the arbitration act gets dramatically scaled back. I don't have problems with reasonably sized companies agreeing to arbitration in contracts with each other, but it doesn't work for end users and employees.

user5994461 7y ago
Arbitration is void in Europe. That's 500 million people who can sue them. However, given that it takes years for any case to settle, if you could even find how to start the process in the first place, that ain't happening.
- anarazel 7y ago
  Isn't project fi exclusively a US thing? Why wouldn't google just get it thrown out due to lack of jurisdiction when sued in Europe?
  - user5994461 7y ago
    Don't know about Fi. I am thinking of the other products that Google sells, none of which has any support.

dfrage 7y ago

For lots of people, because that would cost them all their other Google accounts and services. The OP would have to give up on Android development. I am former Fi user, started back when it was a "Project". My Nexus 5X's battery swelled but was still working and had a full charge, they wanted me to ship it back to them which I morally felt I couldn't do, and replace it with a generally low quality Lenovo Motorola phone that was reported to have serious WiFi problems, negating that major part of their business proposition where it uses any accessible WiFi for data and voice if possible. Felt stupid for having paid them $5/month for device replacement coverage. The G+ real names debacle prompted me to remove as much exposure to Google as possible, now I'm down to Google Groups which can only be had from them. They're just too risky for individuals to depend on.