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Smartphones Can't Cure Acne, FTC Rules
jfruhlinger writes "Your smartphone can send texts, surf the Web, and update your Facebook page, so it stands to reason that it can cure acne too, right? Well, maybe not. Two companies that marketed acne-cure apps have settled with the FTC and have been forced to take the apps off the market. (Colored light can kill acne-causing bacteria, but needs to be much more powerful than what a smartphone screen can put out.) Almost 15,000 people bought the apps."
I'm actually surprised teens turned out to be that smart. That seems like a very low number of suckers to me.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
UV kills bacteria. But I don't think the iPhone makes UV. Hey, that gives me an idea... iSolarium! I'll be rich!
With their fancy iPhones and Nintendos, they wouldn't know which end of soldering iron to hold.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
...are soon parted
"That's right...I said it."
but I think they have an in built proficiency at transmitting it, especially when phones get passed around (e.g. "Hey Brad, Jake's on the phone, he wants to talk to you.")
These were probably children that were misled. Everyone was a child at one point, they need guidance not your bullshit. What we should do is toss the assholes that make these scams into the clink for a couple decades.
Well, here's a list of 14,999 people (and one smart guy with a lawyer) who have already proven themselves to be even more stupid than I thought possible.
The only thing I don't want to do is support them on the dole. Beyond that, go ahead and rip them all off again.
John
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Funny may not give karma, but +5 Informative never made anyone snort coffee out their nose.
People have been selling snake oil (fish oil? placebos?) for a very long time. A huge portion of marketing is misleading. You need to learn not to fall for it, not have people try to hide the whole world full of scammers from you. The same ability to sort out bullshit applies to prescription drugs, diets, vitamin supplements, and everything else people try to sell you.
Does that make them 'oxy-morons'?
Going broke doesn't make dumb people smarter. Especially with the app that was developed by a Dermatologist: these people are being told by individuals who represent themselves as experts that the product works. If they do a quick google search for "color light kill acne", they get pages and pages of legitimate-looking results. In the United States, we regulate medical claims specifically because it is unreasonable to expect everyone to hold the level of expertise that would allow them to determine the validity of such claims.
Allowing fraud wouldn't necessarily result in a smarter population, but it would provide a financial reward for being a more clever fraudster.
At some point we need to stop protecting people from mind-boggling levels of stupidity, or it just allows people to get away with being even *dumber*.
Isn't that what the "freedom" of Google Marketplace is all about?
Are we really sure bacteria is the CAUSE of acne? Sure, a lot of doctors seem to think this, but I've never seen any evidence suggesting bacteria is really to blame.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
No, we need both. We need people to be able to detect bullshit on their own and we need to have the law deal with the scammers.
These were probably children that were misled. Everyone was a child at one point, they need guidance not your bullshit. What we should do is toss the assholes that make these scams into the clink for a couple decades.
You're faulting people for exploiting the weaknesses and insecurities of others? I can't even imagine what Television would be like without it.
postmodernsideshow.com
Makes me wonder if anyone would buy an app promising to allow your cell phone to generate an EM force field by oscillating it's transmission signal.
Hey, it would be handy when--oops, I mean 'if'--the aliens with particle beam blasters come.
"Your smartphone can send texts, surf the Web, and update your Facebook page...
The more you know, the more you have to say and the more you should listen.
So how come they get fined while producers of homeopathic "medicines" don't?
I'm asking seriously.
We're all stupid at something no matter how much knowledge and experience we acquire. (In fact, it's a well known adage that smart people are the most likely to fall for a scam".)
While your statement is appealingly righteous, the downside is that the unscrupulous run up costs for the rest of us, no matter what intelligence level they target. I'd rather they not get away with it, even if it spares people the hard-knocks education you advocate. For a society to function anywhere near optimal, the vast majorities of its transactions must be conducted in good faith by all parties.
-1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
"In the United States, we regulate medical claims specifically because it is unreasonable to expect everyone to hold the level of expertise that would allow them to determine the validity of such claims."
That wouldn't be an issue if our educational system hadn't been gutted.
When homeless meth heads know better than the general populace which medical claims are substantiated and which ones are not, you KNOW there is a problem with our educational system.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Everyone was a child at one point, they need guidance not your bullshit.
I don't think it's just children that need guidance. People, including adults, seem to fall for scams all the time.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
Reference, for those who didn't get it. http://www.xkcd.com/937/
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
You need to learn not to fall for it, not have people try to hide the whole world full of scammers from you. The same ability to sort out bullshit applies to prescription drugs, diets, vitamin supplements,
mission statements, campaign promises, sermons...
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Smartphones Can't Cure Acne, FTC Rules
So is the FTC telling us that smartphones are unable to cure acne or that they're not going to allow them to do it? What is this, a guv'ment conspiracy to protect the benzoyl peroxide cartel?
The company has settled with the FTC. This means that Apple keeps their cut of $26,500 in app sales, the FTC gets almost $16,000, and the people who got ripped off get nothing.
Sounds fair.
"...Almost 15,000 people bought the apps."
Ah, you misspelled "dumbasses".
Cripes, where's Red Forman when you need him...
Not only that, there are some pretty remarkable apps out there.
Magic Mover, an app that vibrates the phone in a particular way to push stuff around. Or just have the phone move in a particular direction, just like in the old days where you could design a series of disk accesses to "walk" the disk drive across the floor.
Blower - real air plays a specially modulated sound that moves air around.
With strange and wonderful apps like that, it's easy to see how some other apps can proclaim to cure acne or other things.
smart people are the most likely to fall for a scam
I wouldn't say that they're very smart at being able to tell something is a scam, then. And I think whether someone is "smart" or not is difficult to determine to begin with.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
Sparkle someone else's eyes!
Well, regardless of whether they could before, they can't now.
Placing the solder by the soldering iron will make it melt, but produce a bad joint. The need to heat the lead was something that a lot ofpeople in my classes never quite understood.
Yep, caveat emptor. Screw the buyer if you can. Nothing wrong with that, is there? I'm glad to see that you're happy with the various level of mortgage and banking fraud that's been going on, also.
You know, before they cut funding big time back in the mid-90s, we actually got to go see some of this stuff as part of class field trips.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Are alot more popular and that is far far more stupid than an acne app
http://www.awfullybigmoustache.com
how long was it available.......and how many people KNEW about it......
This was a good result--it's nice to the FTC doing their job and policing false advertising practices, at least a little. Complaints are relatively easy to make to them--and though most go unanswered, enough of them show patterns that the FTC will investigate.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
...doth not a smart user make.
+1
Have gnu, will travel.
... stupid people shouldn't have money anyway.
That's what it was called 2 centuries ago. And people will be selling it as long as there are idiots who are buying it.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
You need to learn not to fall for it, not have people try to hide the whole world full of scammers from you. The same ability to sort out bullshit applies to prescription drugs, diets, vitamin supplements, mission statements, campaign promises, sermons...
Vendor product datasheets, quantity of sexual partners, tax returns...
Huh. I guess everyone lies.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
(acne killers): But why? It is a medicinal app.
(FTC): Take this hokum down yesterday. There will be no other warning.
(acne killers): Okay, you got me.
The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
Almost 15,000 people bought the apps.
There. Making stupid apps for iOS will not make you a millionaire.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
A test file with the following bullet points:
Wash your face properly with soap and water.
Go out in the sun.
Try to eat some food that isn't fried
Have a shower after you've finished wanking.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I think whether someone is "smart" or not is difficult to determine to begin with.
Not on slashdot. We're all fucking geniuses here.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Acne appears in sexually mature individuals who are prevented from having sex for a long time, therefore producing and accumulating too much testosterone (which incidentally also results in increased violence, lack of attention and behavioral instability). We keep inventing drugs and cures and pretend we don't see the elephant in the room, a problem we created ourselves. No other animal on the planet would be able lead a normal life in the presence of the opposite sex and being prevented from mating for as long as we are.
That's why God invented masturbation.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
A fool and his money is soon parted.
These were probably children that were misled. Everyone was a child at one point, they need guidance not your bullshit. What we should do is toss the assholes that make these scams into the clink for a couple decades.
You may say what you may, but I will say that I wouldn't have learned nearly a quarter of what I have, and wouldn't have learned it at even a fraction of the speed I learned it at, if I didn't make mistakes and learn from them.
That goes for all Humans. Make mistakes. Learn. If you don't, life seems too easy and requires no thought...... until it isn't, and it does.
To clarify, fish oil is recognized by the AMA and various international medical organizations as having cardio protective effects. So your grandma was onto something with that cod liver oil. EPA and DHA are essential nutrients. Snake oil on the other hand....
....and I'm sure you can spend enough time with the research to prove that in every case, eating pond scum builds a person's immune system.
Snake VENOM tastes good, too... until it doesn't. :)
I think whether someone is "smart" or not is difficult to determine to begin with.
Not on slashdot. We're all fucking geniuses here.
Someone mod this shit way up.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan