I really enjoyed reading all the comments so far. The submission itself was nice and hyperbolic. You can tell it's good journalism because of all the exclamation points and strong bias. There's just nothing quite as insightful, though, as a discussion by people with strong feelings and almost no understanding about what is right or wrong with this news.
Frankly, I hope nobody bothers to educate himself about any of this. Indeed, the shareholders of BP should all be in prison for life. And BP should also write a check for 120% of its total equity
Because, if anyone bothered to read the article, understand the situation, understand the system at play, educate himself on the reason things work the way they do, and so forth, how else would I get any entertainment without having to pay for cable TV?
How would such disputes be resolved?
They will be dismissed.
Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Exactly.
How would such disputes be resolved? You have to assume that a fair, negotiated agreement is not possible because, when it is, jury trials already do not happen. You are talking about replacing what happens when a fair settlement cannot be reached. And who decides which disputes can and cannot be understood by "street people"?
Right now, if a party believes that the assumed layperson jury needs expert help to understand an issue, the party can present expert testimony to explain it and other parties can present their own expert testimony as well. Almost every civil case that is actually filed makes use of expert testimony because there is some issue that the average person off the street will not be able to understand without some explanation. That can take the form of anything from how a user interface is designed (something that I, a lifelong computer programmer, would want explained to me) to how a person's spine gets broken in a head-on collision.
From their terms of service at the time of the offer, remedies are limited to refund of the amount paid and disputes over $250 must be arbitrated. "Lifetime" is not defined but their offer clearly says "as long as we exist" and they do still exist. If it were me, I would go for the refund and be thankful for 6 years of free use.
Where there's a will, there's a relative.