Companies That Want to Charge You for Negative Reviews | Hacker News Reader

Companies That Want to Charge You for Negative Reviews

techdirt.com

63 pointswglb14 comments

That's fine, I have a negative review fee processing fee contract that's 3x the negative review fee that I'm sure all the businesses I do business with on-line have agreed to since I flash the paper with the agreement in front of my web cam before I proceed to checkout.

The UK examples are likely to fall foul of the "Unfair Contract Terms Act"

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/blackpoo...

Meta: It's rather hilarious how quickly mainstream society has latched onto the ridiculous idea that Internet Points actually mean anything.

So you got a bad review somewhere? Look it up and resolve with the customer.

Its about as hilarious as the other arbitrary value systems such as money and review scores which exist offline. I find it more amusing how so many people fail to recognize all these things that are "bizarre" or "hilarious" on the internet are perfectly mundane concepts they've worked with all their lives.

I'm most amused when people notice the hilarity and bizarreness of arbitrary systems on the internet but lack the temerity to apply their newfound conception back to "the real world."

For local businesses, Yelp ratings directly impact revenue[1]. These people don't care about Internet Points in the abstract, they're terrified that a string of bad reviews are going to cost them a ton of money.

[1] http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/12-016_0464f2...

I suppose there needs to be a law protecting reviewers.

As the article states, these are unlikely to be enforceable nor successful in court.

There's very little that prevents you from filing any kind of civil suit you wish, although things might quickly go sour, particularly if the defendant appears and the court hears what this is all about.

A cross-complaint would be pretty prudent in these cases.

... and a law protecting reviewees.

There is something better and it's called the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The First Amendment only protects you from the actions of the government, not from the actions of citizens or corporations. For example, I can legally forbid you from handing out leaflets on my own property, but the government can't forbid you from handing out leaflets on a public street. The First Amendment says:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The Bill of Rights (first ten amendments) originally applied only to the federal government (e.g., "Congress shall make..."), but was later extended to apply to the governments of the states as well.[2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_of_the_Bill_of_R...

Huge title discrepency here:

"Here Are The Companies That Want To Charge You"

"Companies to charge"

Very misleading IMO. What happened to sticking to the exact title of the post?

The title wouldn't fit in the requisite 80 characters, so I cut it down.

in other news, north korea manages to launch a nuclear missile and bitcoin finally arrives on the moon.

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