Techdirt. Stories filed under "cleveland" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "cleveland"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:14:00 PDT Gym Allegedly Threatens To Call Police On Blogger For Blogging That Its Prices Were A Bit High Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120621/02584519412/gym-allegedly-threatens-to-call-police-blogger-blogging-that-its-prices-were-bit-high.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120621/02584519412/gym-allegedly-threatens-to-call-police-blogger-blogging-that-its-prices-were-bit-high.shtml threatened to call the police on a blogger because she though the price was a bit steep. But the really odd thing? The original post was generally positive. We're used to seeing people flip out about people saying negative things about them, but a mostly positive review? Now that's something special.

Alana Munro's original blog post did discuss the fact that she thought the price was too high, and that she normally likes a workout that generates more of a sweat, but on the whole it doesn't seem that negative at all. She noted that if it was a little closer to where she lived (and the prices were lower) she'd likely go back. However, somewhere along the way that got interpreted as being a dig by someone who ran the place, and they first got into a bit of a Facebook and Twitter argument with Alana and some others.

And then.... someone with the same last name as the owner posted a comment on the original blog post, accusing Alana of "stealing" the class she attended:
Just stop the posting about Barre Cleveland and take down all the existing posts. We know that you stole the class and we can pursue legal action against you for that and that is why it is ridiculous that you complain about a price when you never paid for the class. You were never given a discount code by Barre Cleveland and somehow you used that to enter the studio. I am sending you this message to politely ask that you remove all the content about Barre Cleveland from your blog and twitter and we will not get the Beachwood Police involved on this theft of services.
Alana says she did use a discount code -- it was one that was being passed around widely to help promote the gym in the first place. Now the gym may argue that it only meant the code to be used by people it gave it too, but then it should have implemented one-time codes. Instead, the code worked, and Alana has a nice receipt posted to her blog "thanking" her for signing up. Her complaint wasn't that she paid too much for that one class, but that the general price might be too much for her to keep going back.

Either way, the whole thing has blown up and received lots of attention. BarreCleveland has scrubbed the back-and-forth tweets from its Twitter feed. But it certainly looks like it already went way too far. Engaging with people who criticize you online is one thing -- and can be quite useful. Threatening to call the police on them and demanding they erase what they've written about you is going way too far, and the internet (hello Streisand Effect) doesn't take kindly to such things.

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]]> good-luck-there http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120621/02584519412 Wed, 8 Sep 2010 03:14:23 PDT Big Brother In Your Garbage Cans Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100823/05104010738.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100823/05104010738.shtml placing RFID chips in recycling bins to monitor whether or not you've been a good little earth saver lately. The way it works, apparently, is that the system will monitor whether or not you bring your recycling bin to the curb, and if you haven't in a while, "a trash supervisor will sort through the trash for recyclables" on the assumption that if you're not recycling, you're probably throwing stuff out. After checking those trash cans for recyclables, if more than 10 percent recyclable material is found, a $100 fine could be assessed to the home owner.

Not surprisingly, the reasoning for this has a lot more to do with money than saving the earth's resources:
Recycling is good for the environment and the city's bottom line, officials said. Cleveland pays $30 a ton to dump garbage in landfills, but earns $26 a ton for recyclables.
While perhaps it's a good thing to see something "good" like recycling line up with a way for the city to earn extra money, it still seems pretty intrusive to monitor how often people recycle.

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]]> rfid-me http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100823/05104010738 Thu, 8 Apr 2010 17:22:00 PDT Judge Who Was Revealed As Anonymous Commenter Sues Newspaper For $50 Million Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100408/1124408939.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100408/1124408939.shtml revealed that a regular commenter on the site was actually a local judge (who had recently threatened to jail a Plain Dealer reporter for not giving up his source on a story). While revealing the real identity of an anonymous commenter seems pretty sleazy, we did wonder about the boundaries for a news organization. If it's newsworthy who an anonymous commenter is, then at what point should a publication reveal that info? A judge making snide comments about a case she's involved with may, in fact, be newsworthy, and part of an investigative report might reveal that info. So could a newspaper claim that revealing who made the comments was newsworthy?

Well, another judge may have to make that determination... because the judge who was "outed" has now sued the newspaper for $50 million claiming breach of contract, fraud, invasion of privacy, defamation and a few other charges. You can check out the full lawsuit (pdf -- via Eric Goldman).

What's interesting is that she uses multiple comments from articles and columns written in the Plain Dealer about this debate after she was revealed. I'm not sure that's compelling. The columnists and reporters may have their own opinions separate from that of the newspaper itself. However, the defamation claims may have a bit more heft to them, as she claims that many of the statements made by the Plain Dealer were false and not verified. Still, $50 million seems extreme no matter how you look at it.

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]]> good-luck-there... http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100408/1124408939