Skip to main content

Lawsuit Says Amazon Prime Video Misleads When You 'Buy' a Long-Term Streaming Rental

2 months 1 week ago
"Typically when something is available to "buy," ownership of that good or access to that service is offered in exchange for money," writes Ars Technica. "That's not really the case, though, when it comes to digital content." Often, streaming services like Amazon Prime Video offer customers the options to "rent" digital content for a few days or to "buy" it. Some might think that picking "buy" means that they can view the content indefinitely. But these purchases are really just long-term licenses to watch the content for as long as the streaming service has the right to distribute it — which could be for years, months, or days after the transaction. A lawsuit recently filed against Prime Video challenges this practice and accuses the streaming service of misleading customers by labeling long-term rentals as purchases. The conclusion of the case could have implications for how streaming services frame digital content... [The plaintiff's] complaint stands a better chance due to a California law that took effect in January banning the selling of a "digital good to a purchaser with the terms 'buy,' 'purchase,' or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good, or alongside an option for a time-limited rental." There are some instances where the law allows digital content providers to use words like "buy." One example is if, at the time of transaction, the seller receives acknowledgement from the customer that the customer is receiving a license to access the digital content; that they received a complete list of the license's conditions; and that they know that access to the digital content may be "unilaterally revoked...." The case is likely to hinge on whether or not fine print and lengthy terms of use are appropriate and sufficient communication. [The plaintiff]'s complaint acknowledges that Prime Video shows relevant fine print below its "buy" buttons but says that the notice is "far below the 'buy movie' button, buried at the very bottom" of the page and is not visible until "the very last stage of the transaction," after a user has already clicked "buy." Amazon is sure to argue that "If plaintiff didn't want to read her contract, including the small print, that's on her," says consumer attorney Danny Karon. But he tells Ars Technica "I like plaintiff's chances. A normal consumer, after whom the California statute at issue is fashioned, would consider 'buy' or 'purchase' to involve a permanent transaction, not a mere rental... If the facts are as plaintiff alleges, Amazon's behavior would likely constitute a breach of contract or statutory fraud."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

EditorDavid

WhatsApp warns of 'attack against specific targeted users'

2 months 1 week ago
PLUS: Microsoft ends no-MFA Azure access; WorkDay attack diverts payments; FreePBX warns of CVSS 10 flaw; and more

Infosec In brief  A flaw in Meta's WhatsApp app “may have been exploited in a sophisticated attack against specific targeted users.”…

Iain Thomson

Best of…: Classic WTF: We Are Not Meatbots!

2 months 1 week ago
Today's Labor Day in the US, a day where we celebrate workers. Well, some of us. This story from the archives is one of the exceptions. Original. --Remy

Sales, as everyone knows, is the mortal enemy of Development.

Their goals are opposite, their people are opposite, their tactics are opposite. Even their credos - developers "Make a good product" but sales will "Do anything to get that money" - are at complete odds.

The company Jordan worked for made a pseudo-enterprise product responsible for everything e-commerce: contacts, inventory, website, shipping, payment...everything. His responsibility included the inventory package, overseeing the development team, designing APIs, integration testing, and coordination with the DBAs and sysadmins...you know, everything. One of his team members implemented a website CMS into the product, letting the website design team ignore the content and focus on making it look good.

Care to guess who was responsible for the site content? If you guessed the VP of Sales, congratulations! You win a noprize.

A couple months passed by without incident. Everything's peachy in fact...that is, until one fateful day when the forty-person stock-and-shipping department are clustered in the parking lot when Jordan shows up.

Jordan parked, crossed the asphalt, and asked one of the less threatening looking warehouse guys, "What's the problem?"

The reply was swift as the entire group unanimously shouted "YOUR F***ING WEBSITE!" Another worker added, "You guys in EYE TEE are so far removed from real life out here. We do REAL WORK, what you guys do from behind your desks?"

Jordan was dumbfounded. What brought this on? For a moment he considered defending his and his team's honor but decided it wouldn't accomplish much besides get his face rearranged and instead replied with a meek "Sure, just let me check into this..." before quickly diving into the nearest entry door.

It didn't take much long after for Jordan to ascertain that the issue wasn't that the website was down, but that the content of one page in particular , the "About Us" page, had upset the hardworking staff who accomplished what the company actually promised: stock and ship the products that they sold on their clients' websites.

After an hour of mediation, it was discovered that the VP of Sales, in a strikingly-insensitive-even-for-him moment, had referred to the warehouse staff as "meatbots." The lively folk who staffed the shipping and stocking departments naturally felt disrespected by being reduced to some stupid sci-fi cloning trope nomenclature. The VP's excuse was simply that he had drunk a couple of beers while he wrote the page text for the website. Oops!

Remarkably, the company (which Jordan left some time later for unrelated reasons) eventually caught up to the backlog of orders to go out. It took a complete warehouse staff replacement, but they did catch up. Naturally, the VP of Sales is still there, with an even more impressive title.


photo credit: RTD Photography via photopin cc

[Advertisement] BuildMaster allows you to create a self-service release management platform that allows different teams to manage their applications. Explore how!
Mark Bowytz