Re: Fraud and free speech

[dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)]

"William H. Geiger III" <whgiii@amaranth.com> writes:
> So what you are saying that if I call up Widgits, Inc. and order product
> "X" that they advertizes does "Y". They instead send me product "X" that
> does "Z" not "Y" then I should have no recource? I should atleast be able
> to get my money back as they have not sold me the product that they
> claimed to be selling (clear violation of the "contract" between buyer and
> seller).

Romans firmly believed in "caveat emptor" and had no implied warranty
of merchantability.

> I have no problem with them saying their product does "Y" but if I spend
> my hard earned money on it then it best do what they say it does.

The cypherpunk solution is to make sure they can't use your money until
you've assertained that the product does what you want it to - and I
don't necessarily mean e-cash.

I occasionally buy shit by mail order on a credit card.  A few times I
was not happy with the purchase, and had to appeal to the card issuer
as an arbiter.  I was happy with the results.

Here both I and the merchant explicitly agree that the card issuer will
be the first arbiter in the dispute - the buyer offers the card, the
seller accepts it.

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<a href="mailto:dlv@bwalk.dm.com">Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps