Comment Tolerance for corporate hegemony (Score 1) 789
I find the tolerance for corporate greed and power in this thread really appaling, especially from the hacker crowd.
I've read a number of arguments that boil down to this: You should have read the contract. I don't care if you don't like it.
Well first off wireless carriers in this country do not offer contracts, they offer ultimatums. A proper contract is negotiated between parties who all have a say in the matter. Not only that but breaking a contract has consequences for both parties. This simply isn't what the monopoly in this case offers. You sign the paper they wrote without input or you get nothing. They get guaranteed revenue far in excess of their expenditure on the subsidy for a period of two years with no guarantee of service, reliability, or quality. You fail to pay and they terminate your account, they fail to provide coverage and you're stuck calling tech support.
To cut this to the bone, this is about power. They can dictate any terms they want unless the consumers act in a group to protest their policies. Remember this is a company that benefited multiple times from direct subsidies from the federal government, relies on access to public infrastructure to provide its service, cooperated in violating constitutionally protected private communications, and continues to make significant profit off of outrageously priced data fees despite the rest of the economy tanking.
If you're willing to sit back and get screwed by companies like this, then they will continue to screw not only you, but the rest of us. I'm not calling for boycott or anything stupidly overplayed like that, but for goodness sake, recognise when the system is not the peoples favor and have the compassion to voice your support for the rest of us getting screwed even if you personally enjoy the feeling.
