Summary:
- The US government is suing Adobe for allegedly deceiving customers with hidden fees and making it difficult to cancel subscriptions.
- The Department of Justice claims Adobe enrolls customers in its most lucrative subscription plan without clearly disclosing important plan terms.
- Adobe allegedly hides the terms of its annual, paid monthly plan in fine print and behind optional textboxes and hyperlinks.
- The company fails to properly disclose the early termination fee, which can amount to hundreds of dollars, upon cancellation.
- The cancellation process is described as "onerous and complicated", involving multiple webpages and pop-ups.
- Customers who try to cancel over the phone or via live chats face similar obstacles, including dropped or disconnected calls and having to re-explain their reason for calling.
- The lawsuit targets Adobe executives Maninder Sawhney and David Wadhwani, alleging they directed or participated in the deceptive practices.
- The federal government began investigating Adobe's cancellation practices late last year.
- Adobe's subscription model has long been a source of frustration for creatives, who feel forced to stay subscribed to continue working.
- Recently, Adobe's new terms of service were met with backlash, with some users interpreting the changes as an opportunity for Adobe to train its AI on users' art.
- The company has also faced regulatory scrutiny in the past, including antitrust scrutiny from European regulators over its attempted $20 billion acquisition of product design platform Figma in 2022, which was ultimately abandoned.
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Summary:
- Internet Archive, including its Wayback Machine, has been facing sustained DDoS attacks for several days
- The attacks began on Sunday and have been intermittent, but disruptive to the organization's services
- Internet Archive says the attacks have been "sustained, impactful, targeted, adaptive, and mean"
- Despite the attacks, the organization's collections are safe, though access has been inconsistent
- This comes as Internet Archive is also embroiled in a legal battle with US book publishers over its Controlled Digital Lending program
- The non-profit is working to harden its defenses to offer more reliable access to its digital library
- Cyberattacks have been increasingly targeting libraries and other knowledge institutions recently
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- Volunteer Positions:
- Volunteer as an Open Library Developer (Learn how to contribute, find easy tasks, look at our roadmap, and ask to join our community slack chat!)
- Volunteering as an Open Librarian (Want to make sure Open Library's data is pristine?)