Does anybody care about the Constitution anymore? It seems like every day I read an article about someone either going against the Constitution, or getting very close to denying its importance in the United States.
Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
21–30 of 76 posts
Re: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe there are no specific scenarios, and it's just to be safe. If you were Google, why wouldn't you add such a clause? It's not like it's going to scare customers away.
Shouldn't it scare away customers that a company will only do business with them if they cannot be held in court for misdeeds regarding that business? I sadly understand that consumers don't read the fine print. But really, this clause should be treated as a dealbreaker.
Yes, it will scare them into the arms of one of the many other ISPs in town offering reasonable service without the arbitration agreement.
OHWAIT.
Re: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
#23Has any state attempted to ban arbitration clauses via popular vote/referendum? If so, would that even hold up in court and across state lines?
Seems like the only way to deal with this crap as there's no incentive for corporations not to force customers into binding arbitration. If I was still running a large consumer focused corporation I'd insist on it as well.
Re: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe there are no specific scenarios, and it's just to be safe. If you were Google, why wouldn't you add such a clause? It's not like it's going to scare customers away.
Shouldn't it scare away customers that a company will only do business with them if they cannot be held in court for misdeeds regarding that business? I sadly understand that consumers don't read the fine print. But really, this clause should be treated as a dealbreaker.
Maybe it should be, but it isn't. Google probably doesn't care about losing the three tenths of one thousandth of a percent of customers who will 1) read the terms and 2) care enough about the arbitration clause to abandon ship.
Re: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
#25Serious question: how is this legal? I can't imagine I could make someone sign a form that he waives his right to sue me and then shoot him, right? Assuming he doesn't die and it's him, not the government, that prosecutes/sues me.
Well that would be a criminal act and the state would be pressing charges, not the victim. Bad analogy.
Re: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
#26Serious question: how is this legal? I can't imagine I could make someone sign a form that he waives his right to sue me and then shoot him, right? Assuming he doesn't die and it's him, not the government, that prosecutes/sues me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Mobility_LLC_v._Concepc...
5 to 4 decision, along the same lines as you'd assume.
Re: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
#27It's difficult to understand how such clause is even legal to begin with. It basically sets up a "private" justice system for non criminal cases. That's insane. I get it, there are difference sort of tribunals. But it shouldn't be up to the corporations to decide where justice is supposed to be served.
It's legal because the five justices who decided that money is speech decided that money now gets its own courts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Mobility_LLC_v._Concepc...
Re: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
#28Does anybody care about the Constitution anymore? It seems like every day I read an article about someone either going against the Constitution, or getting very close to denying its importance in the United States.
You should be more specific if you want useful replies. Otherwise, people will chime in to soapbox on their pet constitutional issue.
Re: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
#29Has any state attempted to ban arbitration clauses via popular vote/referendum? If so, would that even hold up in court and across state lines? Seems like the only way to deal with this crap as there's no incentive for corporations not to force customers into binding arbitration. If I was still running a large consumer focused corporation I'd insist on it as well.
Why ban it? Just make it so that when it's person vs. company, the person can choose the arbiter. Then they can't shop for a biased arbiter.
Re: Like Comcast, Google Fiber now forces customers into arbitration
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not misleading. Many of the donations are from top ranking Googlers like Eric Schmidt who directly interact with these politicians in a business sense. Many of these donors have stock-based compensation with Google. Unsurprisingly, almost all pro-Google legislation is sponsored by the same Congresspeople who have received the largest donations from Googlers. So OpenSecrets' format is specifically designed to rev…
"It's not misleading. " Of course it is. People are not the companies they work for. Period. " Many of the donations are from top ranking Googlers like Eric Schmidt who directly interact with these politicians in a business sense." "many". Opensecrets lists 503 unique people identified as googlers donating. I don't believe you have any reasonable argument that there are 503 top ranking googlers who interact directly…
It's not misleading. " Of course it is. People are not the companies they work for. Period.
Did you read the leaked Sony email where one exec was hounding all the other execs to make large donations to a particular politician?