I think "our industry" refers to CPA style affiliates. Negative option is the same type of thing as the old book of the month club - they ship you something and

I think "our industry" refers to CPA style affiliates. Negative option is the same type of thing as the old book of the month club - they ship you something and charge you for it unless you stop it or send it back. What's going on is that there are (shady) setups designed basically to be a variable CPA. You rope the customer in, charge them whatever you can for the upfront product and then pass on their details to the negative option marketer. The 3rd party fulfills the first order for free (effectively the CPA charge) and then proceeds to bill you long term. It would seem that the title is pretty inappropriate for HN, "our industry" certainly doesn't match any significant part of HN.