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

(www.ftc.gov)
1737 points pseudolus | 1 comments | 16 Oct 24 13:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.23s | source
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SoftTalker ◴[16 Oct 24 14:51 UTC] No.41859735[source]▶
Sounds good, but it would have been nice for them to define what a "negative option program" means.
replies(1): >>41860849 #
1. floatrock ◴[16 Oct 24 16:14 UTC] No.41860849[source]▶
You don't deserve to be downvoted -- this is a classic case of "how does all this legal jargon affect me as a consumer?"

Took a little bit of googling, but https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/24/2023-07...:

> Negative option offers come in a variety of forms, but all share a central feature: each contain a term or condition that allows a seller to interpret a customer's silence, or failure to take an affirmative action, as acceptance of an offer. Before describing the proposed amendments, it is helpful to review the various forms such an offer can take. Negative option marketing generally falls into four categories: prenotification plans, continuity plans, automatic renewals, and free trial (i.e., free-to-pay or nominal-fee-to-pay) conversion offers.

So the "negative option" seems to be referring either to silence-is-consent or an-explicit-no-option, and this rule is around how sellers present (or don't present) such ideas.

But I'm a bit fuzzy on this legaleese too.