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i beleive a change in TOS/contract that changed the ammount you can be billed should typically excuse you from any early termination fees, see point 3 in this article: http://consumerist.com/272305/6-ways-to-cancel-any-cellphone-so-you-can-get-an-iphone

there's your investigative journalism replacement

http://consumerist.com/

if you are a journalist, start your own blog if you have enough star power, or join a collective of investigative reporters and if the site is useful enough that it generates huge traffic, enjoy your adsense income

the traditional newspaper is fractionating into its various columns, sections, and star power reporters, each developing their own pioneering site on the web. the internet IS the newspaper

money will still be made, power will still exist, influence will still be felt, trust will still be earned. but the traditional forms of the mass media news- not just newspapers but also television, will be blended into a puree and new mutant forms will grow into being

A broad enough dataset can be used to determine things well beyond it's intended scope.

Indeed, any regular reader of slashdot (or even better, any reader of RISKS Digest) should be well aware of that.
Here's one example we all should remember:

http://consumerist.com/345219/researches-claim-to-reverse-netflixs-anonymization

How about a $2000+ brick? http://consumerist.com/5231895/216489-paving-stone-in-a-macbook-pro-box-looks-nice-but-wont-run-photoshop

True about audiophile sound, but you must admit that onboard sound these days is more than sufficient for almost all non-professional uses. Serial I/O, ethernet, and firewire are all onboard these days (and as such, there is no market for dedicated expansion boards for them). Video will go the same way within 5 years (IMO) as general purpose processors become numerous and powerful enough to simply render on the main CPU cluster (or, contrariwise, the 'video card' will continue its evolution from 'draws polygons and outputs a video signal' to 'does brute bulk number crunching of anything you want it to', at which point I predict that we'll move entirely to onboard video).

Audiophile sound is different because it suffers, badly, from the Emperor's New Cable effect, "if you can't hear the difference then you're not a REAL audiophile". Which, of course, results in such ridiculous things as companies claiming that their brand of standalone CD duplicator gives a "better sound" than a computer CD burner. If you can get an on-board sound setup that supplies your required (digital) output and has the digital features that you need then on-board sound will have indistinguishable quality from any other board that outputs the same digital signal. If it gets the same bits out and they're interpreted as the same binary pattern by your digital decoder then it's exactly the same sound as you'd get from a $1000 pro card.

Here is TWC's terms of service for residential cable. Although I didn't see any clause specifically stating that TWC has the right to unilaterally cancel your service for e.g. using too much bandwidth, it does say "TWC has the right to add to, modify, or delete any term of this Agreement". Surprisingly, they do say that they'll compensate you for interrupted service: "TWC will give me a prorated credit for the period of such interruption".

Beyond such compensation, you're exceedingly unlikely to win any judgment against them for lost or canceled service, especially since the TOS stipulates binding arbitration to resolve any disputes. You can imagine who typically wins in these arbitrations.

Maybe it can use Bluetooth or Wifi to detect IEDs! (Inspiron Exploding Dells)

Nokia takes security seriously

Straight out of Public Relations 101.

A skimmer perchance?

http://consumerist.com/5200818/reader-finds-card-skimmer-on-bank-atm

Let me see if I get this straight (understanding that the summary has a typo and should read they shouldn't have on the second statement. Or, and this is the link to the consumerist story.

You log in your account and find a huge sum of money in their. Or, I hit the jackpot you think. Now you go and start using it for trade. TFA is a bit lightly on the details, but looks like this trades were go, meaning basically, market fraud. Not, to add some salt on all this, they go out to reverse the money, sell the stocks people bought at a loss, charge than the loss and ask for a commission??? I see lawsuits coming from so many points it gets ridicule.

From the consumerist post: "west: ummmm, this is ridiculous. so i thought it was an april fools joke, put in an order for SKF, and it went through then Zecco just sold it â"-- more than likely making me take the loss please let me know if any of you experienced this! lol....and they charged me $19.99 for commission". So basically they did an April's fool joke, it went wrong, and they are trying to make people pay for their mistake.

Impressive. They do get credits because you need a lot of balls to joke with the market after all it went through recently. And no, I don't buy the "honest mistake" line.

http://www.ctia.org/content/index.cfm/AID/10352

and here:

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/consumer-code.jsp

The seventh right is the one that says they'll let you out of the long term agreement if they change the TOS. The code may or may not have the legal weight of the TOS, but it makes for a good starting point when dealing with a customer service rep. I used it to get out of a contract about a month ago when they changed the arbitration agreement. The CRS agreed to allow me to go month-to-month. In the long run, AT&T benefitted because I used the freedon to get a bigger, better phone that required a beefier data plan, so it was win-win. Just remain polite and firm with the CSR.

More details are available here:

http://consumerist.com/228186/script-for-escaping-cingular-contracts-without-fee-based-on-new-arbitration-clause

You know what my reply to that is? "Fuck you

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. Due to all the information that we have at our finger tips if you ever even look like you are thinking this you will get your ass handed to you. People HATE giving money to people they feel are assholes. If they have to then they have to. But if they can avoid it they will.

The other side of this is that if they hear good things about you they will come to you. The next pair of shoes I buy I will buy though Zappos. Why? Look at these stories. http://consumerist.com/tag/zappos/

As for you making money I would recommend
1)Accept donations. Some people might like your stuff so much they will over pay for it.
2)Ask people who did pirate the game to donate if they liked it. This sounds dumb but it's a way of saying "Look I know some of you are gonna steal this game and there is nothing I can do about it. But Please if you actually like it and would like to see more post-pay for it. I'm not gonna be a jerk about it. I'm just trying to make a living." Most people have trouble ripping off people that are honest and human.
3)Try to make it easier to buy then steal. Steam is great network for that. At this point I buy games on steam so that I never have to go CD fishing ever again if I want to play an old game

I question the relevancy, NYCL. If things proceed with the anti-counterfeiting treaty, RIAA and their freinds will have done an end run around any and all court rulings. http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/06/211236&from=rss http://consumerist.com/tag/copyright/?i=5014035&t=leaked-acta-treaty-will-outlaw-p2p Once the ACTA is put into effect, RIAA and freinds won't even have to file a suit - they just send the Gestapo to round your butt up, and ship you to someplace like Guantanamo.

...the high prices may be a form of protest on the part of independant station owners.

In other words, Shell is Walmarting people. Even if the prices come back down, I'm already biased against stopping at Shell when other alternatives are available.

Consumerist reported this on Feb 24th...

Everyone talks about Circuit City, and indeed, these news are nothing new... Every electronics outlet does that to stay competitive, no? If everyone steals, you either steal too, or go out of business.

Here's an account of a former Circuit City employee.

Having received one such notification, it prompted me to keep a closer eye on my credit report and weigh the option of freezing my credit report, thus making it harder for anyone to use my personally identifying info to borrow money under my name.

In my case, a previous employer who was breached explained the circumstances (something they never would have done without the law), and offered to pay for credit monitoring (not required AFAIK). A very responsible approach to their mistake.

A friend who was hit by the Univ. of CA breach was notified because of the law, but not offered monitoring.

These notifications were useful to the affected individuals, even if their expense alone may not in itself have been enough to motivate better security procedures at the breached organizations.

And obviously, if it happens again soon at either organization, people will raise hell.

Its a start.

Then again, some (un)common sense in their shipping divisions of various companies would help.
Dell Batteries
HP
Newegg

Still, the disc thing is probably more for packing shipping containers from China - the extra control and distance being shipped makes packing efficienty easier and more economical than discovering a way to pack random UPS trucks better.

Then again, some (un)common sense in their shipping divisions of various companies would help.
Dell Batteries
HP
Newegg

Still, the disc thing is probably more for packing shipping containers from China - the extra control and distance being shipped makes packing efficienty easier and more economical than discovering a way to pack random UPS trucks better.

Then again, some (un)common sense in their shipping divisions of various companies would help.
Dell Batteries
HP
Newegg

Still, the disc thing is probably more for packing shipping containers from China - the extra control and distance being shipped makes packing efficienty easier and more economical than discovering a way to pack random UPS trucks better.

No shit. I try to stay away from the fallacies of social Darwinism, but if there ever was a poster child for business Darwinism it would be Circuit City. A thread downstream here claimed that even the loss of a bad retailer is bad for the consumer. Fuck that, the world's average business IQ will go up a fraction of a point when those assholes are in the ground.

Have a walk down memory lane with the Circuit City Timeline:
http://consumerist.com/5082090/timeline-how-circuit-city-came-undone

http://consumerist.com/259713/how-to-launch-an-executive-email-carpet-bomb

Remember to resist the urge just to call them assholes and thieves if you want them to do something.
Don't threaten you don't need police at your door and if you want to threaten with a lawyer you do it by sending a lawyer letter or you can get in shit.

You are trying to sell them on taking some action. They need to see a benefit to it and it needs to be an arrangement they will be ok with.
Sometimes the only thing they get out of the deal is that this person stops calling and e-mailing my boss.

Be persistent and stay on your talking points. Repeat, rephrase and request clarification. The person should feel like they have no chance of getting anywhere with you until your minimum needs are satisfied.

Asking them questions that force some empathy is a good tactic (i.e. "Well if you were me and a company treated you this way what would you do?", "What are my options for getting this resolved?")

Physical snail mail works better than e-mail for this sort of thing. It displays a higher level of commitment.

IANAL....No matter how many forms you sign, you are legally protected from ever waiving your right to sue.

Bzzt. You can effectively sign away your right to sue and many people do, routinely, without realizing it. (The most common are cell phone, cable, and other service contracts.) The culprit is called a mandatory binding arbitration clause and when you try to sue the company, the court will require you submit to arbitration since that's what you and the other party agreed upon when you signed the contract.

Now, arbitration doesn't really sound all that bad, does it? It's just like court only less expensive and with fewer gavels, right? Well, yes. For the company you're in a dispute with. The average person would still need a lawyer to properly interpret the terms of the contract (let alone contract law itself). Oh and by the way, the company gets to pick the arbitration firm. And they get to decide where the arbitration is held. And if by some chance you can make it the arbitration location with lawyer in tow and make a convincing case, you still only have about a 5% chance of the arbitration firm ruling in your favor.

Okay, so appeal the arbiter's decision in court, right? Nice try, but unless you somehow got permission to record the arbitration proceedings (unlikely, since companies try to keep arbitrations strictly non-public), you've got no evidence to make a case with. And in any event, courts have historically said, "sorry buddy, you agreed to an arbitration in the contract so now you're stuck with it."

Arbitration clauses are another thing that need to be outlawed, IMO.

IANAL....No matter how many forms you sign, you are legally protected from ever waiving your right to sue.

Bzzt. You can effectively sign away your right to sue and many people do, routinely, without realizing it. (The most common are cell phone, cable, and other service contracts.) The culprit is called a mandatory binding arbitration clause and when you try to sue the company, the court will require you submit to arbitration since that's what you and the other party agreed upon when you signed the contract.

Now, arbitration doesn't really sound all that bad, does it? It's just like court only less expensive and with fewer gavels, right? Well, yes. For the company you're in a dispute with. The average person would still need a lawyer to properly interpret the terms of the contract (let alone contract law itself). Oh and by the way, the company gets to pick the arbitration firm. And they get to decide where the arbitration is held. And if by some chance you can make it the arbitration location with lawyer in tow and make a convincing case, you still only have about a 5% chance of the arbitration firm ruling in your favor.

Okay, so appeal the arbiter's decision in court, right? Nice try, but unless you somehow got permission to record the arbitration proceedings (unlikely, since companies try to keep arbitrations strictly non-public), you've got no evidence to make a case with. And in any event, courts have historically said, "sorry buddy, you agreed to an arbitration in the contract so now you're stuck with it."

Arbitration clauses are another thing that need to be outlawed, IMO.

This blog post does nothing but reference itself. There are no formal statements from MS and no proof of any kind given. Show me the proof, then I'll side with you. New tag: proveit

http://consumerist.com/5161145/microsofts-policy-regarding-identifying-sexual-orientation-on-xbox-live

Ask, and you shall receive. Something like that. Probably should've lurked at Joystiq.

I have yet to see anything that disputes that the user would have been similarly banned if they had "I'm heterosexual" in the profile.

TFA states that someone got banned even when "gay" was part of his name. ( http://consumerist.com/5010527/microsoft-confirms-gaywood-is-an-offensive-surname-mr-gaywood-responds ). Also given that this doesn't seem to be part of a TOS that states "don't mention your sexuality", this seems to more be a case of banning people for using words deemend offensive. I'd be suprised if someone was banned for the word "straight" being in their profile, but I'd be curious to see.

Furthermore, if someone was banned for saying they were straight, you can bet that people here would be all over it, criticising Microsoft, generally taking the anti-censorship line (both these views are are common on Slashdot), and playing the "Straight people have it worse than minorities" card. Yet because it's someone gay, that's okay? I'm ashamed to be reading some of the comments here.

Like it or not, sexual orientation is a mature subject.

Right, so let's censor all mention of sexuality for kids - relationships, marriage. Let's certainly not have kids at weddings. Of course, your argument is absurd - no one thinks that this is a mature subject, unless it's two people of the same sex.

"I'm into bondage and have a latex fetish"

Well, you're getting into specific acts, rather that what people you like.

What I do have a problem with are people--gay or straight or anything else--who use everything in life as a forum for their cause, even in "neutral" places such as an online gaming service.

So why do they allow these "tags" at all?

Everyone who plays online games knows that it's actually moderately difficult to get banned unless you're incredibly stupid or actually trying, which is another reason that I think the user is either soliciting something or pushing an agenda.

Citation needed?

Could we talk about Richard Gaywood who apparently can't use his name in Xbox Live, neither as a nickname nor as real name.

LIVE is full of teenagers with nicks like ~uberKILL4H~, so I tend to give +3 modifier to anyone I see who actually knows how uppercases are supposed to operate.
Not to mention the whole "what if a word is common name in one part of the world, while obscene in other, such as Wanker"-issue which mr. Gaywood also mentioned.

Much more interesting than some (probably) teenager who has to go around shouting I'M A LESBIAN! DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?!
Anyway, isn't "gay" supposed to be the *positive* way to refer homosexuals? Instead of queers, fags or Eltonjohns? When did a word which is also a synonym for "happy" become so rude that people should switch names if they happened to inherit it..?

Do we really have to start this again? For every pro union post I've read, I've read 10 great anti-union posts where people tell horror stories of the politics and favoritism inside them.

I don't know if you've been paying any attention the last six months, but banks and investment firms that have never seen a union a day in their lives have lost TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

This is the same bullshit argument used against universal health care - some guy needed treatment XYZ in Canada, didn't get it, and died. Therefore UHC sucks, and Blue Cross is teh awesome. Nevermind that there are far worse and far more numerous annecdotes on the American side of the border (how about a miscarriage being called an elective abortion, eh?). Nevermind that Canadians live longer, healthier lives, have a lower infant mortality rate, and that it costs less per patient to cover their entire population than we spend in the United States while not providing any coverage to tens of millions of people. Nevermind that freaking embargoed Cuba has nearly as good a health care system as the U.S., while spending 1/30th per patient.

So spare us your weak sauce, boilerplate anti-union arguments from the 50's.

For a real post, this article has insight Mr. Richard Gaywood gets banned

You can go to a judge but chances are he would say to enter into arbitration like your "contract" (the TOS) says. After arbitration, you can decide to appeal to a real court, but - as the Consumerist puts it:

I'm going to appeal the decision to a real court.

No you're not, because:

In all states but California, there are no records kept of the arbitration, so it's impossible to appeal.

The deference that the Supreme Court has extended to arbitration has meant judges usually won't even overrule unethical or blatantly wrong judgments.

A study of fifty-two arbitration clauses that are in typical consumer contracts found that forty of them describe the arbitrator's decision as final or non-appealable, and the only five agreements that allowed appeal simply provided for a new arbitration.

You wouldn't be able to take them to court at all. You see, that same TOS forces you into mandatory arbitration. So Facebook would choose an arbitrator and you would need to travel to a state of their choosing to meet with the arbitrator that Facebook is paying. The arbitrator would then decide whose side to rule in favor of. Studies have shown that arbitrators rule in favor of the company over 90% of the time so I wouldn't put too much faith in getting a fair shake. And don't go crying to the courts, they've repeatedly upheld arbitrator clauses and judgments. As the Consumerist put it, it's the Worst Choose Your Own Adventure Ever: http://consumerist.com/5148154/mandatory-binding-arbitration-the-worst-choose-your-own-adventure-ever

There were two other points to their TOS change, besides the "rights continue past the closing of the account" that got people riled up:

1. Facebook could sell your uploaded content (including writings, photos, etc) to third parties.
2. Facebook didn't notify users of the TOS change. Instead, you "accepted" the change by continuing to use the service even if you didn't know that the terms had changed.

Combine this with Facebook shutting down accounts for certain actions (like posting breastfeeding photos) and you could get the following situation:

1. User logs in, is unaware that the TOS has changed.
2. User uploads photo to Facebook.
3. Facebook deems photo inappropriate, closes down account.
4. Facebook takes content from the closed account (remember, they own rights to it past account closure) and sell it to an ad agency without the user's approval or notification and without the user/copyright holder being compensated.

Don't like it? Well, you can't take them to court because the TOS binds you to Mandatory Arbitration and who do you think is going to win that? You? Or the company that chooses and pays the arbitrator? (If you answered that you would win, I've got a bridge to sell you.)

You had me right up until you said "more competition, cheaper prices." Sorry dude. You've got four major established players, and you'd naively think this would mean vigorous competition, but in fact there's little evidence for this idea, and more troubling, there's evidence for collusion. (Shock! Gasp! A free Market perfect information perfect competition, doesn't and can never exist in actuality? Sob! Genuflecting at the Alter of Free Markets has done nothing! Cartels exist? Cry! Suicide!)

You had me right up until you said "more competition, cheaper prices." Sorry dude. You've got four major established players, and you'd naively think this would mean vigorous competition, but in fact there's little evidence for this idea, and more troubling, there's evidence for collusion. (Shock! Gasp! A free Market perfect information perfect competition, doesn't and can never exist in actuality? Sob! Genuflecting at the Alter of Free Markets has done nothing! Cartels exist? Cry! Suicide!)

I totally agree with you.
Remember when Steam deactivated game licences that were previously working fine: people have legitimately bought games from Asia and one day, the great Steam overlord decided that the price was not high enough for "rich" countries. So, instead of negociating with the "faulty" retailers like any civilized corporation, they retroactively started to enforce region-locking to punish their consumers...
You cannot trust an online activation system. Period. Offline mode is not an answer: once a mysterious bit has changed on your computer, you are force to activate again.
Oh yeah, and Stardock are more or less in the same bag (except it's only some patches that are protected, not the base game).

You should take a look at this article on consumerist.com and its link to the Wikipedia article covering the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Often, when dealing with a debt collector who refuses to leave you alone even though you have no relationship with the person they actually want to contact, if you mention the Act and suggest that any further contact may lead you to file a report with the FTC, the situation clears up pretty quickly. Of course, you have to do this for each debt collector that calls. But, on the plus side, you'll actually be able to answer your phone again, after a while.

Every time I want something I go there, walk around, then go home and buy what I want on Newegg because it's twice as expensive at Best Buy.

That's because you're going to the wrong Best Buy website.

don't for get the full price of windows in that quote.

http://consumerist.com/5048382/why-i-quit-staples-easy-tech

Now Hershey's can spin this nasty incident as test marketing of their new Space Brownies!

~Philly

Have you EVER used that debit card at the same store and provided your address or phone number? If you've ever done that then they have that information readily available.

Most credit card merchant agreements don't allow them to ask for personal information as a condition of sale. It's actually illegal in some states.

Source (#3)

This is why I use federal reserve notes for everything I can. I bought my Wii with federal reserve notes. I bought my PS3 with federal reserve notes.

Unfortunately, they don't have benefits like chargeback that a credit card does. Plus, if anybody steals them, you're screwed!

Check you card for any bill BB wants $30 to do this.

http://consumerist.com/5122504/watch-out-for-firmware-shenanigans-at-best-buy

The Keynesian route is a dangerous one. In my humble opinion we need to take a monetarist route out of this hole...

As Keynes' system says, it's fine to create deficits during an economic downturn, in fact it's encouraged to stimulate growth, but it can't work without paying off those deficits when times are good and saving.

Most 8 year olds understand this concept.

We're (UK, US, most of the western world) carrying around an almost unprecedented level of debt, debt which we have made no real effort to pay off. Even during the 90s and early 00s when business was booming, we continued to borrow.

We have to stop spending money like we're afraid of it.

Funny:
http://consumerist.com/consumer/clips/snl-skit-dont-buy-stuff-you-cant-afford-252491.php

The Consumerist has answered your questions.

Article: ACE Hardware Is Tired Of People Asking For Double Ended Male Adapters http://consumerist.com/5123592/ace-hardware-is-tired-of-people-asking-for-double-ended-male-adapters

A bit of research through the Consumerist (just bought by Consumers Union, yay!) reveals that AirTran fouling up like this is nothing new.

By the way, Shatner as Kirk expresses his opinion on the Zune in an image attached to this article.

I buy "chocolate candy". I buy "Chicago style", "St Louis style", "New York style", and even "California-style" pizzas, depending on my mood.

Most of the cheese I consume is actually labeled "processed cheese".

I don't see why, had Cheddar been protected, we couldn't have called the 'knock offs' something different.
 

Late post, so this will likely never see the light of day. But nevertheless...

The Consumerist offers 3 options that seem to work well:
1) Chargeback on your Credit Card.
2) Launch an Executive Email Carpet Bomb (EECB) to get their attention and get a response. They even offer information on Michael Dell's email address.
3) File a suit in small claims court. This probably doesn't work if you're still stationed overseas.

Good luck fighting the evil corporate overlords!