“Receipt Please” – Rights, Internet and Grassroots
Sometimes change comes about due to collective understanding. The internet has made collective understanding much easier to spread to a much wider audience than the “water cooler talk” or “corner store gossip” could ever have provided.
Here’s an example. If you go to Circuit City or Best Buy or some other larger retail electronics store, you are asked to show your receipt so it can be compared to your purchases. This is a store’s way of deterring shoplifting which costs the company money, and therefore costs the customer money as prices go up to compensate.
Notice I said asked to show your receipt. There is no law saying you have to show your receipt in this situation.
Honestly, I am in the middle on this one. On principle, I don’t like the practice as it tends to criminalize all customers. In my day to day activity though, I don’t feel like going through the hassle not showing my receipt will create – and I’m just not informed enough to fight the issue with someone getting paid minimum wage. Look what happened to Michael Righi when he didn’t show his receipt. Lots of legal hassle because the employees thought they had a law backing them up – they didn’t.
That’s not an uncommon story by the way (though usually once the cops show up it is diffused). Michael’s story is a bit more involved, but is just one of many that has been reported on Reddit, Digg, Slashdot, Newsvine, and Fark.
So, why am I commenting on this? It isn’t even very geek related. Well… sometimes I just like to point out the power of the internet. Even though the MSM (MainStream Media) hasn’t picked up any of these types of stories – it still gets around that it is becoming common place thanks to user submitted news agencies like Reddit, Digg, Slashdot, Fark, and Newsvines. Now more people are making a point of exercising their rights, which is why these stories are surfacing more regularly lately. Eventually, MSM will pick it up and possibly the “show your receipt” thing will get a bad reputation — and then it may go away.
More after the jump…
This type of phenomenon is known as a grassroots movement, and many of them are started online. The laptop battery recall a while ago was a grassroots movement as more and more people reported on bad batteries and it was eventually picked up by the MSM. That’s quite a power. It is such a power that internet grassroots is a big factor used in political and marketing campaigns. Of course a faked grassroots has it’s own name: astroturfing.
So what does all this combine to mean? Well… it means to me that the people, through the use of the internet, are able to be “Big Brother” to the authorities – and even themselves. It means that cumulative communication can provide a large impact and since the internet is a global, and still relatively free (as in speech – not as in beer), community of people – there is a lot that can be done if enough people participate. It’s really easy to participate — just be informed. Use those news sites I’ve mentioned to add additional resources to where you get information from instead of just CNN or the local news. You don’t have to comment on the news articles or even read the comments – though they offer their own insight sometimes (that’s a whole different topic – maybe we’ll get to it someday). All you have to do is be part of the community. We are a relatively lovely place to be – just be wary of the trolls.
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