Ok, I know this has been on slashdot already, so probably everybody read about it by now, but I thought it was important to point to what, for many reasons, is the more authoritative source for this kind of stuff, IMNSHO. PJ, over at Groklaw, posted an article about the Douglas v USDC Central District case, and the Opinion from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on the case.
I think one point of the article that is worth paying attention to is when PJ says that:
I don’t want you to imagine that this means that all such changes in terms are now overthrown, even if you are fortunate enough to live in the 9th Circuit. You likely know by now that nothing in the law is that simple. Everything is fact-based, for one thing. You will see in the opinion how many “if…then” steps this guy had to get past. For another, the US system has accurately been described as a system of multiple autonomous courts, the federal system being just one of those systems making up the whole picture of how US courts work. And there are various hierarchies within that federal system too. California is a good state to live in if you wish protection from unconscionable contract terms. No doubt about that. But other courts will look at this decision, if only because it’s the first such case on this question to arrive at the federal appeals level, so it’s definitely of interest.
So…as much as we’d like to think this is an all-fixing thing, it isn’t….but hopefully it’ll be a first step towards getting this kind of crap fixed.
Anyway, go read the whole article, it’s an interesting read, and you can also find the link to the PDF of the court document as well as the html version of same done by the groklaw denizens :)
Tags: Geekness, Thoughts
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