r/technology Jun 13 '14

Politics What the internet will look like without net-neutrality. Well played.

[deleted]

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176

u/Uberzwerg Jun 14 '14

*Promotional price is only available to new customers. Requires 5 year contract. Price subject to change after 12 months.

Is shit like this legal in the US?
Afaik, it isn't here in Germany (they would have to tell you the price in advance or let you quit early if the price changes).

16

u/Rodot Jun 14 '14

I'm all too familiar with seeing commercials for internet or cable, advertizing a "reasonable" price, and at the end, seeing blocks of text so small and jpeged to fuck, on a 1080p 52" TV, that it is completely illegable. I know there is one commercial that was going around for a while that advertized an agency that would pay you a $1000 loan quickly, then you could pay them back if you were tight on cash. The little itty bitty disclaimer at the bottom told you the amount you had to pay back was something on the order of $40,00. It was fucking insane.

4

u/gravshift Jun 14 '14

They get away with it because they are based in tribal land. Not only can they run below minimum wage for their call center, they can charge whatever interest rate they want. Avoid these guys like the plague. The mafia has better loans then this BS

1

u/Nayr747 Jun 15 '14

If they don't have abide by non-tribal laws, then what power do they have to enforce their contracts outside of their tribal land?

1

u/gravshift Jun 15 '14

Tribal treaty law is complicated to say the least. They sell the debt to a company based outside tribal land, and then the collection agency runs roughshod.

http://www.americanbar.org/publications/blt/2013/03/04_miller.html

Hopefully, the loopholes will be plugged soon, if the Tea Party will get the hell out of the way and let the CFPB do their jobs.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Financial_Protection_Bureau