Sleazy Online Camera Sellers And The Digg Death Penalty
from the how-far-is-too-far? dept
A friend of mine, as part of his job, has to deal with complaints about online e-commerce scams. By far the most popular are stories of online camera merchants. The scam is always the same: offer a camera online for an incredibly cheap price. Then, after the sale is made, they call up and ask if you want to buy accessories. If you say no, they later say the camera is out of stock and never send it to you. Basically, the only way to get the camera at the low price is to add in all these over-priced accessories. This is, of course, a bait-and-switch tactic. So, earlier today, when I saw Thomas Hawk unfortunately become a victim to one of these scammers, I passed it along to my friend, noting that I was sure it was a story he'd appreciate. In this case, the seller was particularly obnoxious, threatening all sorts of retribution to Thomas for not buying the additional items, threatening to cancel the order and (most importantly) threatening to write about the experience online. The story is unfortunate, but what made it more interesting was later today, when Mat submitted the same story, while pointing out that the story was picked up in a big way on Digg, and various Digg users went into action, calling the store repeatedly (even setting up an automated system to do so). This is interesting for a few reasons. While the camera seller deserves to be outed publicly for the scam and it's hard to feel any sympathy at all for the scammer, at what point does the "Digg death penalty" go too far? Yes, it may make this or a few other scammers think twice about the fact that their names may get online and they may face something similar, but it seems likely that most won't think twice about it. At the same time, this sort of "mob justice" can also be misused in some dangerous ways as well. The story was getting out there (and Google will likely reflect that shortly if it hasn't already) and Thomas had alerted Eliot Spitzer's office about it -- did everyone need to bombard the company directly as well?
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of course!
I agree somewhat with your unsettlings about mob justice, but this is not the same as waiting outside the jailhouse with pitchforks and a hanging rope.
When an online flashmob organizes enough to distribute vigilante justice upon someone, that someone overwhelmingly deserves it. Rarely can the mobs actions be overly detrimental to the target; no one gets strung up.
The scammer was a parasite to the organism that is the internet. The internet, like any creature with a flea biting its ass, scratches the spot until the offending bloodsucker is inconvienienced enough to move elsewhere.
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No Subject Given
I dunno...the old maxim of "With great power comes great responsibility" seems to hold weight here, but the world isn't full of a bunch of Spider-Men
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I think it's awesome!
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Ummm
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Re: Ummm
we have very little power against the machine. and while i may win my petty little case in small claims court it will still be months or more before i get my justice. fuck them. lynch mob my ass. if we can rise up in indignation lets do it. i don't see the down side to getting even with a con man any way you can.
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Paybacks are a bitch
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No Subject Given
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No Subject Given
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...did everyone need to bombard the company direct
The real shame is, I believe that while these guys might profit in the short term, in the long run they suffer. Problem is, most of the people who runs these kinds of cheesy, sleazy shops don't think in terms of growing a viable client-base. All they care about is this week's bottom line.
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did everyone need to bombard the company directly
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Isn't the Diggnation engaging in a DOS attack?
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Mob Justice
Then I thought about it and read the comments. The system is broken.
I think part of the problem is that mob justice as shown in the article is one of the few EFFECTIVE avenues left to us.
The justice system is very slow and ineffective for small time scams or crimes, just ask anyone who's had a small breakin lately. I had one last summer, less than 5 thousand dollars in loss, AND I know who did it too (heck I saw him with some rather distinctive stolen articles) and what did the police tell me? "You have insurance don't ya?". I did and was well compensated but that's not the point.
Its the same with these guys, months can go by in small claims court and while you COULD get summary judgement, you sure as hell won't collect anytime soon IF AT ALL.
So what's left? Courts do nothing, neither can the police? Well there's mob justice, such as it is..and it seems effective.
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If they trick someone out of $100 for a camera, make them pay $10,000 (100x what they took) to charity and the $100 back(no incentive to sue to get rich, just to enact justice).
Failing that the only other answer would be to have the perpetrator dragged out onto the streets and butchered over 30mins, live on pay-per-view as a deterrent!...do that once or twice and I guarentee there wouldn't be a single con-man willing to die to rip someone off for the price of a camera!
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fruadualent camera sites
Yes scammers certainly do deserve this, no they cannot do enough to rid them of innocent prey.
Mob justice? Sounds like you're defending guilty criminals, you must be one of them.
Finally, someone getting what they deserve in the USA.
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