A little late in attending to our RSS reader, Legal Pad belatedly enjoys this piece, via BoingBoing, about a woman who for days was terrorized by a virtual stalker who left her in fear for her life.
Not to worry, unsuspecting victim! Your "stalker" is the fine marketing geniuses at Toyota. Not content to be sued by a former attorney claiming to have proof it hid evidence of rollover dangers in its 4Runner SUV thing (Zusha Elinson profiles that attorney in Wednesday's Recorder), the automaker launched the "promotion" because the victim had filled out some online survey. The survey's fine, fine print claimed the right to subject the woman to marketing come-ons, and apparently that means realistic criminal threats. (Lesson: Don't fill those out.)
While hilarity did not ensue, a lawsuit certainly did. Toyota's defense? That fine print opted the victim in, and amounted to informed consent. Not clear: How "stalking" someone will make them want to buy your car. Worth contemplating next time you're killin' time, just sitting on the lawn of your (coy, ph-so-hard-to-get) true love at four a.m., just minding your own damned business, all right?
— Brian McDonough
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