FTC 出手告 Adobe 的退租機制

在「FTC sues Adobe for hiding fees and inhibiting cancellations (ftc.gov)」這邊看到的,FTC 的稿子在這邊:「FTC Takes Action Against Adobe and Executives for Hiding Fees, Preventing Consumers from Easily Cancelling Software Subscriptions」。

FTC 的標題就講差不多了,然後第一段再更細節一點:

The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against software maker Adobe and two of its executives, Maninder Sawhney and David Wadhwani, for deceiving consumers by hiding the early termination fee for its most popular subscription plan and making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions.

後面有提到法源依據 Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act

The complaint charges that Adobe’s practices violate the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act.

然後 FTC 內是 3-0 通過,然後在加州北區聯邦地院打官司:

The Commission vote to refer the civil penalty complaint to the DOJ for filing was 3-0. The Department of Justice filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

這個也是值得期待的案子,會是 dark pattern 在法律上的攻防戰...

最近很熱鬧的 New York Times 退訂截圖

最近很熱鬧的 New York Times 的退訂過程截圖在這邊,可以看到滿滿的 Dark pattern 想辦法讓使用者難以退訂:「Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it will take you to cancel it.」,這點在 Hacker News 上的討論也可以看一下:「Before buying a NYT subscription, here's what it'll take to cancel it (imgur.com)」。

我在看的時候想到美國好像有通過法律,要求租用與退訂流程的對等性,查了一下資料發現理解不正確,之前看到的新聞應該是加州州政府通過的法令:「SB-313 Advertising: automatic renewal and continuous service offers.(2017-2018)」。

2018 年法令生效當時也有報導,裡面講的比較白話:「Companies must let customers cancel subscriptions online, California law says」,結果看到這則報導裡面給的範例時馬上笑出來,因為又是 New York Times,看起來是就是慣犯 XDDD

One person tweeted about trying to cancel a New York Times subscription on the phone and being put on hold for 15 minutes -- twice.

在 Hacker News 的討論裡有提到,美國的使用者可以考慮用 Privacy 這個虛擬信用卡服務,對於這種很搞事的 subscription 直接關閉對應的信用卡帳號就好。

台灣之前有遠東銀行提供 Mastercard InControl 方案,但看起來到去年年底也不提供了:「MasterCard inControl 網路交易虛擬卡號申請服務110年1月1日起終止公告」。