MagicJack Tries To Silence Boing Boing; Loses And Has To Pay $50,000

from the slapp-that dept

MagicJack, a VoIP-dongle solution that I've used in the past, has a reputation as a product that actually works pretty well, but the company behind it has some serious problems. It's marketed aggressively on cable TV, has put misleading claims on its website, hides important things in the fine print and is not particularly good with customer service. Also, the software, once installed, is quite difficult to ever remove. In 2008, BoingBoing wrote a post detailing the shadier practices of MagicJack. Rather than doing the smart thing and improving those practices, MagicJack decided to sue BoingBoing. That was a mistake. It was a clear SLAPP case, and after MagicJack effectively had to admit that nothing in BoingBoing's post was actually wrong, the judge dismissed the case and ordered MagicJack to pay BoingBoing $50,000 in legal fees.

Thankfully, BoingBoing was helped by the fact that California has a strong Anti-SLAPP law -- something that the rest of the country could use. What's more telling (and interesting) than the dismissal, however, is that MagicJack had originally agreed to settle the lawsuit, and pay BoingBoing's legal costs (after the company's CEO realized that the case was a lost cause and -- he claimed -- his own lawyers had failed to properly notify him of California law), but backed out when BoingBoing wouldn't agree to keep the lawsuit and settlement confidential.

Again, that suggests a company that knows what it's doing is shady, at best, but rather than having any interest in improving the way it goes about its business, wants to keep things hidden.

I have to admit, I really don't understand why MagicJack feels the need to work this way. It's a decent product that should be able to sell on its own merits, explaining openly what it does, rather than hiding stuff in the fine print and falsely claiming how many people are signing up to use the device. Imagine if, instead of suing and losing and getting all of this negative publicity, the company had just cleaned up its act, been open about things, apologized for its earlier mistakes and focused on building a better business?
Hide this

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: defamation, eulas, magicjack, slapp
Companies: boingboing, magicjack


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. icon
    Ima Fish (profile), 23 Feb 2010 @ 1:57pm

    "the company's CEO.... claimed his own lawyers had failed to properly notify him of California law."

    This is basically an admission from the CEO that the purpose of the lawsuit was to silence Boing Boing.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Ian, 23 Feb 2010 @ 2:04pm

    We all know what happens next

    Cue Streisand Effect.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    taoareyou (profile), 23 Feb 2010 @ 2:10pm

    Just Curious

    Today every single comment I have made has been "held for moderation" and never posted. Has anyone else had this problem?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    taoareyou (profile), 23 Feb 2010 @ 2:11pm

    Re: Just Curious

    Until now that is.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Mike Masnick (profile), 23 Feb 2010 @ 2:26pm

    Re: Just Curious

    Today every single comment I have made has been "held for moderation" and never posted. Has anyone else had this problem?

    For whatever reason, your IP address got picked up as being a spammer's IP address, so the system held your comments. We tend to go through the held comments once or twice a day -- as they rarely catch any legitimate comments (maybe once per week), while catching approximately 10,000 to 20,000 actual spam messages per day.

    I just released your comments.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 2:47pm

    I have to admit, I really don't understand why MagicJack feels the need to work this way.

    G-R-E-E-D

    Shy settle for an honest, fair profit if you can make even more being shady?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 2:50pm

    For whatever reason, your IP address got picked up as being a spammer's IP address, so the system held your comments.

    Yikes, you sound like one of the **AA's there.

    IP address don't correspond to individuals. If you treat them like they do, you're going to wind up wrongly accusing innocent individuals.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 2:52pm

    Re:

    Grrr, "Why", not "Shy"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 3:00pm

    I was going to buy their product until I found out it didn't actually use real magic.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    Pirate My Music (profile), 23 Feb 2010 @ 3:03pm

    Re:

    1) The comments aren't being deleted automatically, they're just being held so that a moderator can check to make sure they're not pumping out spam.

    2) Would you rather have a shit ton of spam or the miniscule chance that someone is briefly inconvenienced?

    IP Addresses that are constantly spitting out spam get logged, I assume, and thus have to be checked. This isn't an **AA tactic, it's an "every site with comments" tactic.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    Tom Landry (profile), 23 Feb 2010 @ 3:10pm

    wow, I almost bought one of these things.

    Other than the EULA does it mention anywhere that your calls are not private? Seems like an issue that can't simply be buried in just the EULA without incurring some kind of criminal invasion of privacy statute.

    then again, I'm not an attorney.....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 3:43pm

    Re: Re:

    1) The comments aren't being deleted automatically, they're just being held so that a moderator can check to make sure they're not pumping out spam.

    Didn't said they were. What part of what I *actually* said isn't true?

    2) Would you rather have a shit ton of spam or the miniscule chance that someone is briefly inconvenienced?

    2) Would you rather have a shit ton of "piracy" or the miniscule chance that someone is wrongly accused? Lemme guess.

    This isn't an **AA tactic...

    To the contrary, it's standard practice for them.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anony1, 23 Feb 2010 @ 4:08pm

    Imagine if, instead of suing and losing and getting all of this negative publicity, the company had just cleaned up its act, been open about things, apologized for its earlier mistakes and focused on building a better business?


    Imagine...all the people....ohhoooohooo...rock on..

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Ryan, 23 Feb 2010 @ 4:10pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    The big difference, obviously, is that this is a private site that implements certain measures of restricting what comments other people can post on its own online property. Three-strikes laws and the like, which I presume you are alluding to, are artifacts using the legal system to forcibly limit you from using your own property on the basis of accusations made of actions you are taking with your own property.

    Additionally, no accusation was made in this instance. The comments were temporarily withheld from appearing to others on the site until they could be verified(you might compare this to a judicial process that actually required proof of infringement before kicking individuals off the internet).

    But you knew this discrepancy, obviously. You're just being an ass.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 4:19pm

    Re:

    Yikes, you sound like one of the **AA's there.

    Let me clarify my comment there. I certainly didn't mean to imply that Mike is just like the **AA's. That would be beyond ridiculous.

    But there is a subtle but important difference between saying "your IP address got picked up as being a spammer's" or saying "your IP address got picked up as being as a source of spam". The former implies that you can identify something about a person based on their IP address, while the latter doesn't. I think Mike actually meant the latter, but just got a little sloppy with his phrasing, which was the cause for my "Yikes" comment.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 4:22pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    You're just being an ass.

    Hey, nice name calling there! Real classy!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Skittles, 23 Feb 2010 @ 4:23pm

    Re:

    Worse, it compensates for the lack of realmagic(tm) by incorporating an overabundance of realJack(tm), and if you're like me, you don't care for someone else's Jack, in whatever amount.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 4:23pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Three-strikes laws and the like, which I presume you are alluding to...

    You presume wrong.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Anony1, 23 Feb 2010 @ 4:25pm

    Hey people where's that Imagine spirit Mike was brining up?
    Let's all get along in peace...ohooohoooo...LOL.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Jared, 23 Feb 2010 @ 5:08pm

    Quality Costs Less

    W. Edwards Deming actually taught that quality ends up costing less in the long run. Instead of masking MagicJack's lack of quality, they should have just improved and put the $50,000 in BoingBoing's legal fees and their own legal fees into actually improving their product. It definitely would have payed bigger dividends in the long run.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    PRMan, 23 Feb 2010 @ 5:10pm

    It would seem

    It would seem that if MagicJack raised their price by $10 per item, they could have top-notch service and support. That's still a really cheap price per year.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 5:15pm

    Re: Quality Costs Less

    W. Edwards Deming actually taught that quality ends up costing less in the long run.

    Which doesn't mean much if your main American-style concern is short-term profits.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2010 @ 6:01pm

    Re: It would seem

    Exactly, looks to me like they cover their costs with the $20/year and make money with the targeted ads - no room for support. Nice try at innovation but a complete privacy, customer service and pr fail.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. icon
    Offbeatmammal (profile), 23 Feb 2010 @ 10:27pm

    MagicJack is okay but needs polish

    I've been a happy MJ user for a couple o years now, but the software/device does need a bit more polish - it's got some rough edges and the tendancy to get itself hung up and need a reset/reformat

    It works a lot better with MagicFeatures - http://www.pcphonesoft.com - annoying it needs an add-on to make these work.

    Somewhere between Skype and this would make a perfect solution

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Feb 2010 @ 5:12am

    Re:

    Not the same, obviously.

    I don't taoareyou was sent a presettlement letter.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. icon
    Comboman (profile), 24 Feb 2010 @ 5:27am

    Re:

    The EULA does not say the calls aren't private, it says "Our computers may analyze the phone numbers you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads". Of course the company routing your telephone calls knows what numbers you're calling (that's how they bill you). The same is true for Vonage or Skype or even a regular, old-fashioned telephone company. The difference is that MagicJack uses that calling information to target ads at you (like Google does with searches or gMail). Yes it's somewhat creepy, but it's not a criminal privacy issue.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  27. identicon
    MG, 25 Feb 2010 @ 9:59am

    nettalk tk6000

    nettalk is a good clean open alternative....they have a good user forum as well www.nettalk.com

    link to this | view in thread ]

  28. identicon
    Magic Jack Problems, 27 Apr 2010 @ 10:53am

    Nettalk? Really

    Even though Magicjack has no customer service,. no one can beat their price. Nobody.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.