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by Negitivefrags 2343 days ago
Can someone explain to me how this is legal? False advertising laws exist and this is literally marketing a non-existent product.

And even if it’s not illegal, I don’t understand how you can just be okay with lying to people.

Everyone in this thread seems to just be totally okay with this and I’m super confused about it.
5 comments
dhimes 2343 days ago
I was scrolling the comments here to see if this was being discussed. It's my biggest takeaway from the article. We had a discussion many many years ago on HN (maybe more than one) and the feeling among the startup devs (not all, mind you, but the majority) was that such behavior was immoral. I think it came up once in a conversation about Steve Blanck (sp?) IIRC.

One thing I learned a few years back, however: If you're in a game and you're the only one playing by the rules, you're going to lose.

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WilliamEdward 2343 days ago
I get the impression people here simply didn't catch that there was no actual product, since the authors were so nonchalant about it.

I went to the site myself and filled in some checkboxes. Added my email and it simply says i'm on a list and nothing else happens.

This is pretty disgusting.

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MattSayar 2343 days ago
Yeah, all I could think about was how crap this seems from a customer's perspective. If I'm trying to find lessons, and they promise lessons, why can't I get lessons? Not very customer-friendly, and since they're going to kill it, the people who signed up are just left scratching their heads that nothing happened.
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mritchie712 2343 days ago
If someone wanted them "brought to justice", they'd need to:

1. Sue them

2. Prove they were harmed in some way

3. Either hire a lawyer or do a bunch of paperwork (not to mention learn what paperwork they need to do)

That's why it's unlikely they'd face any repercussions from running the test.

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jlokier 2343 days ago
It probably is illegal under the GDPR and perhaps a future US personal data law. Take a look at what WilliamEdward wrote in a child comment:

> I went to the site myself and filled in some checkboxes. Added my email and it simply says i'm on a list and nothing else happens.

Under GDPR, your email is personal data (PII) and taking it from you under false pretences, to use for a purpose you were not informed about and did not consent to, is against the law.

Of course nobody is likely to sue over it.

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