andrew writes:
"Alternet.org reports recent updates to terms of conditions for Bank of Americas cell phone app and Capital Ones new credit card contract have given banks unsettling new abilities. These privileges include the authority to access to your phone microphone and camera or even showing up at your workplace and home unannounced at any time.
From the the article:
We're witnessing a new era of fascism, where corporations are creating intrusive and over-bearing terms and conditions that customers click to agree to without even reading.
As a result, corporations in America have acquired king-like power, while we're the poor serfs that must abide by their every rule or else."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday February 24 2014, @06:40PM
Oligopolies don't work that way, where switching sellers necessarily solves your problem.
Let's say that Company A does something that hurts consumers. That leaves Company A's competitor B with two options to react to improve their bottom line:
i. Do the same thing to reap the same benefits.
ii. Try to pull customers away from Company A by not introducing the identical section.
Most of the time, B will copy A, for 3 reasons:
1. Most of Company A's customers won't even notice the change, much less react to it.
2. The potential profits whatever action Company A took are frequently higher than could be gained by pulling in more customers.
3. Choosing to compete on this will get Company A's lawyers busy trying to find a way to go after Company B.
It's far easier for both A and B to simply hurt the third party (consumers) and leave each other alone. Multiply this by, say, 10 competitors, and it's very possible that industries will get steadily more onerous and more painful for consumers to deal with. And if it's an industry with a high enough initial capital cost, then it's extremely difficult for a new competitor to join the industry to take advantage of this situation to build a new customer base - and once it becomes a big player, guess what it does next?
Cell phone carriers, ISPs (in those rare places with more than one), and airlines are just a few examples of industries where this phenomenon is common.
Every task is easy if somebody else is doing it.
(Score: 2, Informative) by chewbacon on Monday February 24 2014, @09:58PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday February 24 2014, @10:25PM
Don't get me wrong: I fully support consumers making choices that get them better deals. My point is that while that is good and necessary, it's not always sufficient.
For example, banks didn't back down over ATM fees, and as a result they are pretty much industry standard, and there are now ATM companies that make their living from those fees.
Every task is easy if somebody else is doing it.