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US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

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Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#51

Post by JumpCrisscross »

ta988 wrote: post #35
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> turning off the card doesn't actually end the agreement between you and the company I know of two hedge funds who buy these claims at a discount and pursue them. If you aren’t concerned with your credit score it probably isn’t a problem; I doubt either sues.

Can you detail a bit more? What funds? what do they do exactly?

> what do they do exactly?

Businesses have customers whose cards have been declining, e.g. someone who used Privacy.com to rotate the card number but never actually cancelled their contract. The fund buys those claims for unpaid bills for pennies on the dollar. They then send collection notices to collect those bills. If you don’t pay, it goes to collections, which is reportable to the credit reporting agencies.

Came up in a personal discussion where I admitted I sometimes do this with my Apple Card.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#52

Post by bencagri »

layer8 wrote: post #48
bencagri wrote: post #44

Nice improvement! The U.S. government's move to make the 'unsubscribe' button more accessible is a step in the right direction, bringing it closer to what Turkey has already implemented. In Turkey, regulations ensure that users can easily opt out of unwanted emails with a straightforward click, minimizing the hassle of digging through convoluted unsubscribe processes. This user-friendly approach has been effective in…

TFA is not about unwanted emails, it’s about cancelling paid subscriptions.

still i get emails from the services i never subscribed. this also should prevent "selling lists" aka selling consent.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#53

Post by litenboll »

inglor_cz wrote: post #33
litenboll wrote: post #28

Disclosure: I only read up until it was revealed what the policy was. This was always my opinion on this. "As easy to cancel as it is to sign up". It's simple, and completely shuts down this malicious behaviour without making it harder to operate for the honest companies (or worse for customers in any way I can think of). Usually these policies have downsides but I can't really think of any. This kind of behaviour is…

"As easy to cancel as it is to sign up" Hm, I would prefer two-step sign up to one-step unsubscribe.

Sure, but it's a minimum. Also, the incentive here is aligned with what's best for the customer, i.e. they probably want to make their two step subscription process to become one step which automatically gives the user an easier process to unsubscribe.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#54

Post by layer8 »

bencagri wrote: post #52
layer8 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TFA is not about unwanted emails, it’s about cancelling paid subscriptions.

still i get emails from the services i never subscribed. this also should prevent "selling lists" aka selling consent.

Sure, but that’s not the topic of this HN submission.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#55

Post by ethbr1 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #50
jwally wrote: post #18

I find it extra ironic that experian is now pimping a service to aggregate and cancel your subscriptions - but if I want to freeze my children's credit reports I have to have a notarized original of their birth certificate and bring it to committee before they will approve. I'm exaggerating obviously, but not by much.

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/requesting-a-sec... >1. Gather Necessary Documentation >You'll need copies of: Seems pretty reasonable to require proof of identity and proof of parent/guardian before freezing someone’s credit.

Have you tried to do it? There's a lot of "We found an unspecified discrepancy in your submitted documentation and are unable to service your request. Please resubmit after fixing the unspecified problem" dark responses from credit bureaus.

Which is what this rule making initiative seems to be about -- you shouldn't have an advertised process that actually leads to black holes (because it's in the company's financial interest for them to).

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#56

Post by wincy »

the__alchemist wrote: post #7

Anecdotally: A: I get more spam than ever. What is especially annoying is that the majority of reputable companies do this. Order something? Sign up for an account? Set up an LLC? File a trademark? Boom: Spam emails UFN. B: It's easier to unsubscribe than ever: Often one-click at the bottom of the email, or let Gmail/Fastmail etc do it for you. Generally effective. One annoyance I find is the Our terms have been alte…

The most persistent emails I’ve gotten are from being Mormon at some point in my life, and familysearch.com has some special Mormons only mailing list that you’ll get re added to no matter how many times you unsubscribe. It’s kind of hilarious in a way to speculate why (Mormon church actually has a pretty good IT team in my experience, my guess is some automated system syncs over emails from Mormon church roles to the familysearch website which I think is owned by the church) but also irritating. I finally had to mark it as spam.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#57

Post by litenboll »

echelon wrote: post #45
litenboll wrote: post #28

Disclosure: I only read up until it was revealed what the policy was. This was always my opinion on this. "As easy to cancel as it is to sign up". It's simple, and completely shuts down this malicious behaviour without making it harder to operate for the honest companies (or worse for customers in any way I can think of). Usually these policies have downsides but I can't really think of any. This kind of behaviour is…

> For example, to move loans from one bank to another you need some documents How would this work? The lender may have paid for your loan (and may not have even gotten the right to service the loan). How do they make their money back? What about the mortgage-backed securities market?

Maybe I described it in a bad way. I'm talking about renegotiating the interest rate with another bank. So the original bank loan is not moved in practice, it's just paid back in full. It's law here in Sweden that the mortgage plan can't be changed (I.e. number of years etc) if you change bank, so the documents are related to this.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#58

Post by ethbr1 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #51
ta988 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you detail a bit more? What funds? what do they do exactly?

> what do they do exactly? Businesses have customers whose cards have been declining, e.g. someone who used Privacy.com to rotate the card number but never actually cancelled their contract. The fund buys those claims for unpaid bills for pennies on the dollar. They then send collection notices to collect those bills. If you don’t pay, it goes to collections, which is reportable to the credit reporting agencies. Came…

Makes (insane) financial sense.

Essentially the same business model as medical junk debt and patent trolling.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#59

Post by litenboll »

misstuned wrote: post #37
litenboll wrote: post #28

Disclosure: I only read up until it was revealed what the policy was. This was always my opinion on this. "As easy to cancel as it is to sign up". It's simple, and completely shuts down this malicious behaviour without making it harder to operate for the honest companies (or worse for customers in any way I can think of). Usually these policies have downsides but I can't really think of any. This kind of behaviour is…

The same goes for all services. I was able to sign up for an ISP service (in the UK) online very easily, with a few clicks and entries onto a form to enter my details, choose my installation date, choose my speed, etc. Fast forward a few years, I'm leaving that house and need to cancel the internet - snail mail letter needed.

It's similar here in Sweden. Usually they require a call to support, officially. However, I think there is a law/policy that require them to accept unsubscriptions by mail/message, regardless of what they say on their website. I recently did this and it worked! Maybe there's something similar in the UK?

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#60

Post by pbasista »

inglor_cz wrote: post #33
litenboll wrote: post #28

Disclosure: I only read up until it was revealed what the policy was. This was always my opinion on this. "As easy to cancel as it is to sign up". It's simple, and completely shuts down this malicious behaviour without making it harder to operate for the honest companies (or worse for customers in any way I can think of). Usually these policies have downsides but I can't really think of any. This kind of behaviour is…

"As easy to cancel as it is to sign up" Hm, I would prefer two-step sign up to one-step unsubscribe.

Why the asymmetry? And what do you have in mind when you refer to "two-step sign up"?
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