But in this vein, maybe if you can get the chatbot to disgorge its secret then you get to unsubscribe.
I hear disputing credit card transactions are a thing, though.
I have been getting charged $7.99 from Google every month for a year. I don't know what the charge is and it isn't linked to any of my accounts. I have contacted every single possible Google support line that exists to the public. They refuse to provide any means for me to show them I own this credit card and that I want the charges stopped. But of course, my credit card company also has no human support rep, and their automated support line tells me I need to talk to the merchant. So I cancelled the card. Guess what? They're still processing the fees from the old card, like it never cancelled.
The guidelines ask us to avoid comments like this:
Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes.
Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/us-court-cancels...
It's definitely a much better link.
It actually describes what the ftc did wrong and even links to the decision. The guardian link doesn't do either, and so doesn't actually provide for meaningful discussion.
but also, not the kind of subscription the article is about.
The court finding: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca8.110...
Judges: "Before LOKEN, ERICKSON, and KOBES, Circuit Judges"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_B._Loken appointed by George HW Bush.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_R._Erickson appointed by Donald Trump
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_A._Kobes appointed by Donald Trump.
Oh. That explains it.
Edit: this has been a bit of a yoyo back and forth. If anything, I think its time to admit that judges are nowhere near impartial. And doubly so, they can and will manufacture the verdicts their appointees/supporters want.
SCOTUS being 6:3 for most recent judgements isnt a coincidence. Its 100% political. Just now, the grift and corruption are public, and those who are in power (republucans) are happy with this arrangement.
There will always be the suspicion of political bias, and the haphazard way the administrations ever since Obama went in how nominations were done adds more fuel to the fire.
> But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said the FTC erred in its rulemaking process by failing to produce a preliminary regulatory analysis, a statutory requirement for rules whose annual effect on the national economy would exceed $100 million.
> The FTC had argued that it was not required to prepare the preliminary analysis because its initial estimate of the rule’s impact on the national economy was under the $100 million threshold — even though ultimately the presiding officer determined the impact exceeded the threshold.
This is a case where congress really did pass a concrete law, and the court is requiring the FTC to follow it. Sucks that a reasonable rule is getting voided for the sloppiness but I really don't think the courts are indefensibly out of line.
[1] https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5390731-appeals-court-...
Fortunately, California law should be unaffected by this and that will probably be sufficient.
Ideally, we don't have all these structures slowing down societal adaptation. It's like we anneal over time, and that makes us brittle. We need to always be ready to bend to a new wind.
If your product is so poor that the only way you can retain customers is to make it too hard for them to cancel then your product needs to be improved.
Almost like they can do it without the phone or something.
It makes me much more willing to trial a subscription service because I know I won't have to spend an hour of my life on the phone with a lovely Filipino man to stop that service.
The killer app for me on iPhone? Files. I literally switched from iPhone 3 to android because it didn’t have a file manager! Thankfully I came back.
The game is rigged and enough deluded people think they can "game" it as well.
If there is a card that offers this let me know because I'll be switching immediately.
Not all services offer this yet, but it's gaining momentum, especially with Amazon now offering it for non-subscriptions.
(Not affiliated, just a satisfied customer.)
So I contested the charge through the bank. They would refund me, but then the company would charge me again for the subscription
This went on for several months. At some point the card expired, the bank automatically sent me a new card, and somehow the company was still able to charge the subscription to my new card, even though I couldn’t even access my account
It was a couple of years ago, and I don’t remember how I finally stopped it. But it was kinda shocking to me to see the charges “jump” through different cards. Especially given that usually any service that I don’t want cancelled, gets immediately cancelled if my card on file expires
The protection specifically requires that cancelling is at least as easy as signing up.
After its own ALJ found the rule’s effect would exceed $100 million annually, the FTC was obligated to publish an analysis of the “projected benefits and any adverse economic effects and any other effects” and the effectiveness of alternatives, as required by § 57b-3(b)(1)(C).
Bush 41: 2
Bush 43: 6
Obama: 1
Trump: 4
oh
ars•3h ago
throw10920•2h ago
dylan604•1h ago