MAPS and Experian Settle Lawsuit

dbrower writes: "Experian is trumpeting a settlement with MAPS here, where MAPS agreed not to blackhole them without a court order, and agreed that Experian didn't need to do opt-in. Looks like a loss to me."

Comments

Re:Advertising is Pollution

[Amazing Quantum Man]

It would be interesting to know why MAPS decided to cave in.
<HUMOR>
Maybe they didn't want their credit rating trashed? ;-)
</HUMOR>

HUMOR tags have been added for the humor impaired, in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

For those who are confused:

[Nindalf]

Experian is a company that sells crack by spamming millions of schoolchildren. MAPS (the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) has refused to provide their drug-friendly mailing lists because they insist that crack is not a psychedelic drug. However, Experian threatened to take them to court with the argument that if they can include marijuana under their umbrella, then the definition is broad enough to include crack.

Wisely recognizing that both sides are better off not attracting the attention of the courts, MAPS has apparently backed down.

A loss indeed. You can expect many of your peaceful local potheads to become violent criminal crackheads any day now.

I hope this clears up any misconceptions you may have had from the shamefully vague top-level story. I'm a little fuzzy on some of the details myself, but as usual, trying a few likely domain names gave me access to the essentials.

Re:I don't get it!

[Reality Master 101]

Experian only maintains a database that provides information to others, who seek that information. That database expresses an opinion: in the opinion of Experian, the people listed in the database have good or bad credit.

Shouldn't that be protected by the first amendment and they should be able to do anything they want with it, whether it's accurate or not?

Or to put it another way, should I be able to put up a web site that is a "blacklist" of employees who are incompetent? What if someone put you on that list unfairly? That's called defamation.

Free speech doesn't mean you're allowed to say anything you want, regardless of damage.