Comment on Steam does the opposite of forcing Arbitration on its users

lowleveldata@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• kamenlady@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It means you love anal.

  Sorry, it’s Friday and i am silly.

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  • lowleveldata@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Thank you fellow anal lover

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  • Goronmon@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Filling fees for an arbitrator may be higher than filing a case in court.

    Which is why Valve is making the change. They were paying a lot for this filings.

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• solsangraal@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  arbitration pretty much provides zero benefit to the consumer and all benefit to the organization. a big piece is that if you sign off on an arbitration clause, then there’s no such thing as class action lawsuit anymore.

  some companies make you have to sign a handwritten letter through snail mail just to opt out, because they don’t want anyone filing a lawsuit, and definitely dont’ want a lot of them filing together.

  this is another case of corporations saying “this option is best!!” while leaving out the “for us” part

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• potentiallynotfelix@lemdro.id ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Forced Arbitration is when a company puts something in their terms of service that forced the user to go through a process of arbitration as opposed to going to court. It is always rigged towards the company who forces it, because they are the people paying the arbitrators.

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• slazer2au@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  If you have a dispute with Valve you have to hire a lawyer to take them to court. No “third party” mediation

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  • moody@lemmings.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Most disputes most likely fall far below the limit for small claims, where a lawyer is not required, or even allowed in many cases.

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  • hannesh93@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Isn’t it often in both parties to settle things out of court? For the one that’d sue it’s usually more money at less cost and the company gets around possibly having a bad precedent set and the bad publicity to potentially losing in court.

    This is probably aimed at people creating issues in the hopes of getting a settlement for something that has a slim (but Nonzero) chance to hold up in court.

    It’s a company - I think this aims at people only bringing serious claims and reducing the paperwork for them - but since it’s Valve people will glorify everything they do

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    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Usually it’s forced arbitration, you can’t sue

      It really favors the company. Steam is explicitly saying no arbitration which levels the playing field.

      Arbitration doesn’t save money. You still need lawyers.

      What’s bigger is this explicitly says it allows class actions. Something that most prevent and require individual arbitration, consumers are better off when they can pool resources for lawyers against a giant corporation, especially since most would require an upfront payment for a large class action.

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      • hannesh93@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Arbitration doesn’t save money. You still need lawyers.

        of course - but usually it’s way faster than getting a proper court-ruling - and since lawyers are paid per hour that makes a big difference

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    • theneverfox@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      That’s not what arbitration is. This doesn’t stop valve from reaching a settlement, it stops them from using fake privately funded bench trials

      Binding arbitration means the results are legally binding, non-binding arbitration means a judge needs to approve the arbitration results before it’s final. Sometimes it’s with an off duty judge, sometimes anyone can be the arbiter

      Regardless, on one side you have a repeat customer, on the other you have someone who will probably never be back - there’s a built in conflict of interest

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• Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I’m not a lawyer: Many companies are updating their terms requiring that disputes are settled through arbitration, usually where a 3rd party selected by the company rules on the disagreement.

  It’s meant to protect them from excessive lawsuit payments that can happen when you go to court.

  Valve went the other way, and is saying that all legal disputes should go to court instead.

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