Three
industry
groups
are
suing
to
prevent
the
Federal
Trade
Commission
(FTC)
from
enforcing
its
new
“Click
to
Cancel”
rule
that
requires
companies
to
make
it
easy
to
cancel
subscriptions,
according
to
Reuters.
And
yes,
it’s
exactly
who
you’d
expect.
Click
to
cancel
expands
the
Negative
Option
Rule
to
forbid
businesses
from
making
customers
cancel
services
using
a
method
that
differs
from
how
they
signed
up.
So,
if
you
sign
up
online,
you
must
be
allowed
to
cancel
online,
rather
than
needing
to
call
a
support
line,
write
a
letter,
or
show
up
in
person.
Most
aspects
of
the
rule,
assuming
it
isn’t
blocked,
will
go
into
effect
180
days
from
its
entry
into
the
Federal
Register.
That’s
“arbitrary,
capricious,
and
an
abuse
of
discretion,”
the
Internet
and
Television
Association,
Electronic
Security
Association,
and
Interactive
Advertising
Bureau
allege
in
their
complaint
filed
with
the
US
Fifth
Circuit
Appeals
Court
today.
The
groups
—
many
of
whose
member
companies
profit
from
subscriptions
that
are
easy
to
start
and
harder
to
stop
—
argue
that
the
FTC
is
trying
to
“regulate
consumer
contracts
for
all
companies
in
all
industries
and
across
all
sectors
of
the
economy.”
Indeed,
the
rule
applies
to
any
automatically
renewing
subscription,
whether
it’s
a
gym
membership
or
Amazon
Prime,
including
free
trials
or
those
plans
that
ship
you
easy-to-cook
dinners.
The
horror!
(Originally posted by Wes Davis)
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