Disputing A Bogus Charge Is A Violation Of Terms Of Service?
from the how-does-that-work? dept
Consumerist has the story of how a guy who's account on some pay porn site got hacked, with $450 charged to his account. When he threatened to have his credit card company dispute the charge, the site warned him that doing so was a "serious violation of our terms of service." They also refused to return the money (though they said he could get credit at the site). Of course, he still had his credit card company dispute the charges and got his money back. Still, it takes quite an amazing sense of entitlement to (a) claim that you're not giving a guy whose account was hacked his money back and then (b) threaten him with a TOS violation for disputing the charge.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: disputing a charge, terms of service
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Twisted Logic
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Twisted Logic
You're gonna be the guy who punctuates a reference to that woman with a "LOL!"...
Wow.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Twisted Logic
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Twisted Logic
Remember: things are only offensive **if you let them be** so take the power away from it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Twisted Logic
2. Learn to read; "LOL" puntuates a statement referring to the porn site's ToS and the absurd clauses therein.
3. The post has nothing at all to do with Lori Drew's actions (whatever you may think of them); it has to do with her trial and more specifically the labarynthine route taken by prosecutors in that trial to find something (anything) with which to charge her.
4. All of the above notwithstanding, I'm still gonna be that guy. Grow up and deal with it; political correctness has gotten way out of hand.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Twisted Logic
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
online meds are similar
A lot of newspapers online and off have done exposes on this, and they all come to the same conclusion -- online med sites are mostly scams.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Charged!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not a redhead, but...
Claiming you can simply "take the power away" from an offensive comment doesn't make it ok in a civilized society. I certainly hope never to live in a place where that sort of comment is acceptable in everyday language and can honestly say I have never heard it before to the best of my knowledge.
There's little question as to why that may be since most of the people I associate with would never be so bigoted.
As for the article - come on. It's a porn site. Might have been note worthy if they actually tried to go after him for the ToS violation but a simply claim??
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Not a redhead, but...
The phrase "beat you like a red-headed step child" is a widely used phrase. You probably have heard it but just don't remember.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ot
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Force?
I didn't say "You can't say that". Just that that is not appropriate and IS offensive, for good reason.
So long as people can't respect each other enough not to make such off-colour humour people will continue to think it's ok to hate someone based on their race, hair colour, sexual orientation, whatever.
That's not cool.
All I'm saying.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Force?
> by the way - advocating violence based on
> someones hair colour is a hate crime in
> many places).
Not in the USA it isn't. Any such law would be a bright line violation of the Constitution and the 200+ years of 1st Amendment jurisprudence that illuminates it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Force?
> hate someone based on their race, hair
> colour, sexual orientation, whatever
I have no idea what you actually mean by "think it's okay", but in terms of the law, it *is* perfectly okay to hate people for any reason at all. The government can't punish you for your thoughts and emotions. Anyone can hate anyone else for whatever reason they choose.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Force?
1)if i kick your ass, its assault.
2)if i kick your ass and call you a red headed step child, its now a hate crime?
why would i kick your ass if i did not hate you?
i hate those damn sneaky ToS
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Force?
It's okay everyone, Justme is from the UK. Their knickers come pre-bunched, I'm told. :P
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Force?
Please use the reply to comment so it stays in the chain.
Thanks
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Really?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Won't somebody think of the children??
Business Plan (patent pending)
1. Setup online porn site, charge minimal subscription to generic material with extensive 'additional cost' specialty material available.
2. Get users with free 1 month subscription
3. Once enough users are signed up, change TOS so disputing charges results in all disputed purchases being made entirely public, including all material purchased being provided to 'law enforcement' for investigation purposes.
4. 'Hack' users accounts (by providing 3rd party with user ID's and passwords) and charge ridiculous amounts to usres accounts for access to pictures of disgusting and generally disapproved type material (beastiality, goatsee, etc)
5. Sit back and wait for disgusted and frustrated users to complain (when they do provide them with the relevant portion of the TOS and see what happens) or dispute the charges, if they do dispute the charges send copies of the pictures to their e-mail and post the information on a public access forum.
6. Profit and laugh......
Anyone making use of this business model without paying the $1 million dollar licensing fee is required to provide me with their first born child (see I'm thinking of the children, anyone who would do something this despicable doesn't deserve to be a parent). The terms of this agreement can be changed at any time, solely at my discretion without any prior notice.
Man, my tinfoil hat is really giving me helmet hair today....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Shitty business practice since it'll drive away customers, but it's certainly doable.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hate
"Hate crimes (also known as bias-motivated crimes) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation."
If you want to say "I hate you because you have red hair" no one cares, you're just an a$$.
If you hit someone = assault
If you hit someone BECAUSE they have red hair = Hate Crime
...even in the entire US of A.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hate
Race? Nope, not with red-hair being an elective hair color.
Religion? Certainly not.
Sexual Orientation? Not applicable.
Disability? Debatable, but ultimately no.
Ethnicity? See Race.
Nationality? Nope.
Gender? Again, no.
Gender identity? Same as gender.
Political affiliation? Not even related.
So... none of them apply to your definition and I'll repeat the question: which protected class is a "red-headed step child" a part of, exactly?
Also: Get off the soap box and pull the 2x4 out, nobody cares.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hate
> hair = Hate Crime ...even in the entire
> US of A.
Nope. Hate crimes only encompass certain statutorily defined groups and hair color is not one of them.
Kill someone because he's Hispanic, that's punishable as a hate crime.
Kill someone because he's a Dallas Cowboys fan, that's not punishable as a hate crime.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hate
...even in the entire US of A.
Nope. Gingers aren't a protected class in the US. Anti-discrimination laws in the US are very discriminatory in what groups they protect. Funny that, huh?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
some loser attempting to avoid paying for his porn. probably his wife found the item on his credit card bill.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]