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Comment by gerbil | Hacker News Reader

You are mostly correct.

The real question is, when there are hundreds of horror-stories out there about Facebook and Google et al terminating access without notice or review and the devastating effects upon people's digital lives, why do the media and Gov do NOTHING despite thousands of complaints?

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What should the media and government do? It is a civil issue and you have agreed to the companies terms of service, so in essence, you have given them consent to terminate your account if they see fit and then when it happens you kick and scream for the government to fix it?

The fix is if you don't agree with the terms of service, you don't use the service just like if you don't agree with a contract, you don't sign a contract.

Government's role in part is to enact laws to prevent one party from harming another. There are all kinds of laws on the books, from ones that govern unfair trade practices to keeping medical records private. It's not a stretch to imagine a law enacted to prevent online companies from killing off someone's digital life for giggles without any recourse.

Its probably already covered under "natural justice" setting up a better appeals process is far better than the EU eventually noticing and regulating you.

I have worked for heavily regulated companies and it sucks not even knowing that you will be allowed to launch a product you have spent years developing and to have that nice MR Murdoch get favored son treatment and be allowed to cross subsidise his products where you are not

IANAL but I don't think that any company can enforce a ToS that's against the law. OP stated that there should be some kind of law to regulate this and I agree. There are many laws (at least in the EU) that regulate some ridiculous things (e.g. shape of the fruit) so why not regulate this area if the end user will benefit from that?

Please stop using the shape of fruit anti-EU attack. The shape of fruit is regulated in the EU because it was demanded by the producers of said fruit and the manufacturers of the machinery they use.

You probably misunderstood me - this wasn't an anti-EU attack. The fruit law was just an example that a law can be made when it's necessary.

Because not everything in life needs to be tailor suited to your needs by using the coercive power of the state. You aren't entitled to Google's products and services anymore than I am entitled to you creating a free search engine for me and allowing me to use it.

I wish that the government tailor suits the laws for my needs... I'm not talking about the right to use something. I'm talking about right to receive the support when you're paying for a service / product (and I'm not counting FAQ as support).

The right to use something is the same as the right to tech support. You want the right to use tech support.

Furthermore, what Google product/service are you PAYING for that you aren't getting support for? What Google service/product are you using that has no competitor?

You're talking out your ass.

"You're talking out your ass." I'm not going to continue the discussion with you in this type of manner...

You were the one who started by advocating violence against people not providing you customer service.

That's not how contract law works. There are lots of laws relating to contracts that are, at least ostensibly, there to stop abuses of power from one party over another.

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