(no subject)

[scottobear]

Taking the Newtsicle to the vet tomorrow morn... I hope he gets a clean bill of health...I imagine he will. :) Aside from that, my only real duty is laundry.

Online Company-Flamers: Beware

First a woman got fired because of something she said on her web site. Now people are getting sued for posting negative opinions of companies on message boards. What ever happened to free speech?

I've had issues with the current "money = justice" legal system since long before the O.J. thing. The whole concept of bogging people down under huge legal fees until they concede makes me think of schoolyard bullies wrestling smaller opponents to the ground and making them eat dirt until they say "uncle". I also have serious, serious problems with cases where the defendant was not notified they were being sued, so they never showed up in court, and the plaintiff wins by default. It's all rather Orwellian.

If there's an issue in the 21st century that's going to provoke people to start throwing tea into the harbor, this is it. Taxation without representation is nothing compared to litigation without representation.

Heaven help you if you make a comment critical of the media. Considering that a mere six companies (AOL/Time/Warner, Viacom, Newscorp, General Electric, Gannett and Tribune/Times Mirror ) control every major media outlet in the free world, and all of them would suffer major damage to their power base if a serious threat such as trust-busting a la Microsoft (for all the effect that had), they're all going to band together to insure their power base, even while competing for your incredible shrinking attention span.

What I really want to know is, when did I start becoming a paranoid crackpot? when did this stuff start to really, really scare me and make me want to start lining my ballcap with tin foil? Some of this freaky weird fringe stuff is actually starting to make sense to me. I'm starting to be able to see the Fnords.

Comments

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

maybe we can dress the maids of honor in it!

Re:

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

maybe saran wrap, instead? :)

Re:

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

well... saran wrap for everyone then!

[argumentplease.livejournal.com]

I think that people would see the danger of this if it were the government trying to punish people for making critical statements, but since it's private corporations, it's harder to see the connection. Nevertheless, I think that the danger is there. Try replacing the company names in the posts with "George W. Bush", and read it again. Then it becomes obvious -- we would never allow our government to go after people for saying "George W. Bush is a liar" or "George W. Bush follows bad business practice". We have the First Amendment exactly because freedom depends on protecting unpopular, critical-of-those-in-power speech.

No one should have the power to intimidate and threaten individuals for speaking their minds. Libel and slander are crimes, and should be prosecuted accordingly, but both of them have rigorous standards that must be proven. Most casual speech (and by extension, message board/weblog posts) does not meet the criteria. Sometimes there are social repercussions for speaking one's mind -- if I insult a friend, I'm likely to lose that friend, and it has nothing to do with my right to free speech -- but that ex-friend cannot turn around and sue me for saying that she has bad taste in men.

I suspect that the reason people are willing to give corporations so much leeway is that the economy is in such bad shape, and the attitude is, "You're lucky to have a job... don't push it." They're trying to suck up to the people in power. People often have similar attitudes when workers are fired or punished for trying to unionize or strike for better working conditions. This just reinforces the fact that rich people have power in this country, especially rich corporations, and I'm surprised that so many Americans don't seem to mind.

Re:

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I think you're absolutely right... your GW Bush example is an excellent one.

[laurak.livejournal.com]

I totally agree re: losing freedom of expression by not being able to bash corporations. Here is a prime example of the ridiculous links that some companies apparently will go to. Most companies now even register domain names that could be negative against their company, i.e. ABC Company might register abccompanysucks.com just so an upset customer can't get it. It's madness I tell you...

Re:

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I hear ya!

I wonder what can be done to correct it!

[laurak.livejournal.com]

oops there was supposed to be a link in there - it should have read, "Here (http://www.2600.com/news/display.shtml?id=322) is a prime example of the ridiculous...."

Re:

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

oh! :) I thought you were reffing the article itself. :)

[laurak.livejournal.com]

LOL I guess I did kind of kill two birds with one stone there, i was kind of referencing the article but also the link. I really can't stand Verizon so I take pleasure in reading what the 2600 folks have done to be bothersome to the company (evil grin.) I just woke up so my head isn't out of the fog yet. ;)

[cath555.livejournal.com]

hmmm.... most of the people I know buy into some kind of conspiracy, in a half joking, half cynical kinda way. but most of the people I know work for government, police/security investigations, computer guys and a few media people. so maybe it's just the people I attract ;-)

incidently, I had to tell my brother it's not a good idea to "explain" his theories on first dates last night.

Re:

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Heh... nope. I just don't want to be sued or lose my gig for saying something like "I prefer rice crispie treats to hamburgers".