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nj.com, thenextweb.com, and others have articles about the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016, which President Obama signed into law Thursday.
The Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016, sponsored by Rep. Leonard Lance (R-7th Dist.) and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), would prevent non-disparagement clauses in agreements with patrons.
The Lance-Booker legislation was designed to let consumers post negative reviews on Yelp and other online sites without a company going after them. It would end the practice of businesses inserting provisions into the lengthy terms and conditions customers they face when booking or buying online.
"This law is about protecting consumers posting honest feedback online," Lance said. "Online reviews and ratings are critical in the 21st century and consumers should be able to post, comment and tweet their honest and accurate feedback without fear of retribution."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 17 2016, @07:44AM
You Can No Longer be Sued for Leaving Negative Reviews Online
Uh, yes, you can.
Forbidding non-disparagement clauses in EULAs doesn't really help there, lawyers are awfully crafty when it comes to tenuous links and imaginary slights. The "defamation" cases are more often then not frivolous and questionable.
It's probably going to get somewhat easier to defend yourself, or to get the case tossed out outright, but that never stopped people from suing before.
What this is about is outlawing non-disparagement clauses -- "If you say anything bad about us, you agree to pay $5,000" type of thing. This is a good thing, since these were going around the court system. They'd just send you a huge CC bill, with all that entails (credit rating going down, debt collectors going after you if you refuse to pay, that kind of thing). Sometimes they'd also sue you, of course.
Not to mention, I'm pretty sure you can still be sued for actual defamatory negative reviews...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 18 2016, @03:17AM
This. The headline completely misses the mark--and is downright false.