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FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

(www.ftc.gov)
1737 points pseudolus | 2 comments | 16 Oct 24 13:09 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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ajkjk ◴[16 Oct 24 14:37 UTC] No.41859541[source]▶
There are so many things like this that have needed fixing for such a long time. The fact that something is happening, even slowly, is so heartening.

If your reaction is wondering if this is legal then you should be interested in the passing of new laws that make it unequivocally legal. Society should be able to govern itself.

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TheCraiggers ◴[16 Oct 24 14:41 UTC] No.41859610[source]▶
Agreed. The fact that multiple companies are springing up with the main selling point being "help you cancel subscriptions you thought you already cancelled" should be a wake up call to the legislature that this problem has gotten out of hand.
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pc86 ◴[16 Oct 24 14:49 UTC] No.41859715[source]▶
I think a great function of elected representatives would be keeping an eye out for these types of businesses that are societal "code smells" indicating something is wrong, and looking at the regulatory and legislative environment to see what would be changed to make those businesses obsolete.
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pbhjpbhj ◴[16 Oct 24 15:56 UTC] No.41860619[source]▶
Those who are pro-market probably consider the companies cropping up to be evidence that legislation is not needed (as the market is addressing the issue). I'm not such a person, fwiw.
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1. pc86 ◴[16 Oct 24 16:10 UTC] No.41860793[source]▶
I would definitely consider myself pro-market, and "market > government" has proven itself a pretty good default time and time again. That doesn't mean nothing should ever be regulated.
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2. choilive ◴[16 Oct 24 16:35 UTC] No.41861067[source]▶
I don't think any free market capitalist outside of the most extreme libertarians think that markets should be completely unregulated. It is well known that free markets have areas where they are market failures or can never be Pareto efficient. Basically any "tragedy of the commons" type scenario is such a case. Unfortunately governments like to get their grubby fingers into everything and try to regulate their way out of problems.