Re: <nettime> Wal Mart wants to police the internet and arrest Re-Code.com

[Ian Dickson <ian@iand.demon.co.uk>]

So Re-code suggest that you should name your price.

Well I don't know about US law, but here in the Uk the law is actually 
built on just that premise.

When you go to the checkout you are MAKING AN OFFER to purchase the 
goods at the price that you suggest.

The shop might have put prices on the goods, but this, legally, is 
nothing more than a guide as to the sort of offer that they might 
accept.

Only if they accept the offer and take the money has there been a 
contract for consideration.

(This is why when e-commerce players make typos and offer £300 TVs for 
£3 they do not actually have to send them, but why Hoover went bust with 
its free flights to America offer).

However offers have to be open and understood, so trying to dupe a 
checkout girl by changing a price is deception, or theft, anyway 
criminal.

Is Re-Code satire? Yes, provided that you don't actually Re-Code, but 
given the above (which I suspect may be the same in the US, given the US 
origin in UK law), the joke is even more fundamental than he thinks:-)

Any finally

I suggest that Hactivist learn more about their enemy, and copy them, 
esp the use and abuse of offshore companies as devices for hiding the 
ownership of property such as domain names from any number of lawyers. A 
few hundred dollars gets a lot of protection. The Cayman Islands aren't 
what they were but I believe that Liberia is still pretty bullet proof.

Of course as real satirists they shouldn't want to hide too effectively 
because where is the glory in that:-)

Regards
-- 
ian dickson                                  www.commkit.com
phone +44 (0) 1452 862637                    fax +44 (0) 1452 862670
PO Box 240, Gloucester, GL3 4YE, England

           "for building communities that work"

#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net