

Steve Mann's unanswered letter to McDonalds' Head of Customer Services - kefs
http://eyetap.blogspot.com/2012/08/unanswered-letter-to-mcdonalds-head-of.html

======
toomuchcoffee
What a pity.

While I tend to sympathize with his case, for a grievance letter that was just
way too long and rambling. So it puts the addressee -- who already faces
considerabilities legal liabilities, as well as pressures from above if they
respond the wrong way to such a letter -- in a position where they feel
justified in seeing silence as a prudent response.

Plus, it just takes lots of time to parse and construct a response to such a
torrent of TL;DR like that.

Much better would been to have spend some extra time coming up with something
no longer than 1.5x as long as the letter he was responding to. You know,
something _readable_. And then, for political as well as strategic reasons,
open his wallet to have it professionally translated into French. Now _that_
might get him the kind of traction he wants on this issue.

~~~
drucken
All good points.

Being in French and reasonably short would have been made it more adaptable
for French media and their law experts too.

In my opinion, the key is to make this seem like a distinctly French problem
and conduct it in French public space. Given French pride (and assuming it has
no gross legal repurcussions), that could force a response.

~~~
SteveMann
I've taken your suggestion as the basis for a proposed shorter letter for
translation into French.

I posted this draft letter as a comment to my latest weblog entry in
[http://eyetap.blogspot.ca/2012/08/unanswered-letter-to-
mcdon...](http://eyetap.blogspot.ca/2012/08/unanswered-letter-to-mcdonalds-
head-of.html)

Please take a look at this proposed shorter letter, and I would welcome
comments on this proposed draft short letter in
[http://eyetap.blogspot.ca/2012/08/unanswered-letter-to-
mcdon...](http://eyetap.blogspot.ca/2012/08/unanswered-letter-to-mcdonalds-
head-of.html)

Best regards,

Steve

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jpxxx
Is this for real?

The moment you start talking about seeking legal remedy from a corporation,
the only interaction you're going to have from said corporation is through
their legal department.

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jaylevitt
Wait - didn't he have a photo that showed the employee tearing up his
documents?

Doesn't that mean the McDonalds executive is outright lying?

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uncoder0
I have noticed some resistance to filming in businesses in the US. I've been
wearing a camera rig recently to do high-res capture of my shopping for some
software we are working on. Since I started the data capture I have been asked
to turn my camera off by several different businesses. I wonder how this
apparent aversion to filming in some establishments will effect the adoption
of google glass and similar products.

~~~
sp332
I would ask you to turn off your camera out of respect for the other
customers. Also, people are less likely to do silly dumb things in a store if
they can't show their friends :)

~~~
uncoder0
Agreed. I always turn if off when asked. Do you think there will be an
expectation for people to take their Google glasses off in businesses?

~~~
pavel_lishin
I think that at a certain point, there will be an expectation for businesses
to stop asking people to film on their premises.

I can't take my wearable computing rig into your store? Guess I'm going to
your competitor who doesn't care.

~~~
danielweber
Or customers will go the store where a dozen busybodies aren't filming them.

I don't think any of us know how this will all shake out in the end.

~~~
ktizo
Usually the store is filming you anyway.

~~~
danielweber
Yes, but they have an incentive not to be a dick to me if I trip and fall and
land on my ass. Other patrons have no such restraint.

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meatpopsicle
^ non union lawyer.

This dumbass just took his proper private process they've just acquiesced to
(silence == acceptance), and made it public in such a way that obliterates his
remedy. I would have just slapped a $50k pricetag on my private
correspondence, gotten their agreement (with another step for due process on
their part) that they owed that money to me, then filed a lien with the US
Secretary of State's office. once the lien is perfected, you file a lien
against the CFO of McDonald's, and you can use the county sheriffs to seize
assets on your behalf. This will work even if you're in France, and you're
dealing with an American Corporation (UNCITRAL Convention is your guideline).

If you can script a mod for Neverwinter Nights, you can learn Contract Law. It
astounds me how many people refuse to learn it, but allow their lives to be
ruined by their ignorance in the subject.

~~~
switch007
I hear this suggested as a remedy quite often (especially in the 'freeman of
the land' circles), but never any stories of it being used successfully. Do
you know of any cases where a commercial lien has been used and they actually
paid up?

~~~
meatpopsicle
I try to stay away from terrorists, especially "Freeman" types. "Lawful
Excuse" does not mean what they think it means, and overall, the movement has
been co-opted to promote vexatious litigation.

Once your lien is established, You file a complaint in court (whether County,
or CQB if .uk/.au/.nz/.ca), issue a seizure order for the judge to rubber-
stamp, and direct the Sheriff to go seize property for you. I've personally
witnessed it working in 3 canadian provinces (BC, AB, SK), and 2 states
(California and Arizona). I'm hesitant to name names, though; if you're
curious, and you can find a public court registry (most canadian provinces
have them online), start looking up the names of the current or former chiefs
of police, wardens (Maricopa County, AZ is great for this). you'll see lots of
proper process and liens.

This is outside of registering your lien with Equifax/Experian/TransUnion
(which is also very effective), should you want to affect their overall credit
history.

Personally, as I enjoy banking/finance waaay too much, I like to sell my liens
to foreign banks. One law enforcement officer I encountered had all his assets
seized (including his house/credit cards), but it only satisfied approximately
half the debt owed. Once a wage garnishment order was in place, the rest of
the debt was sold to a fairly large corporate bank in New Delhi. Now the
officer (who currently has a desk job) pays all but $200/month of his wages to
this bank until the lien is paid.

TL;DR: don't worry whether or not they'll be honorable. Get the courts to
force them to pay.

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tedunangst
I wonder what kind of response he wants. "An apology rather than a denial
would go a long way toward mending hurt feelings." Oh, ok. _I'm right, you're
wrong, and don't you dare suggest otherwise._

~~~
wizzard
Well, it seems like fair tactics given the original letter's insulting non-
apology: "We regret that our staff’s request that you stop filming in our
restaurant offended you."

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swishercutter
I guess when asked we should just put the camera away, calmly sit down and
begin crushing their heads.

<http://youtu.be/8t4pmlHRokg>

