To be clear, I find the ability for anybody to threaten anybody else with a lawyer to be problematic for many reasons. The legal system in the US sucks and I would love to see some sort of social remedy to this type of lopsided interaction and abuse of power. If that happened in this case that’s part of my question: perhaps there’s noting wrong with the “experiment” itself but rather with wording that might imply legal consequence?
However I’m dubious that there was even a threat of a lawyer. The request simply asked for a prompt response as required by law. That’s quite a stones throw from “I’ll sue you and take you for everything you own if you don’t reply”.
BTW, if you are actually being threatened by a lawyer then they send certified mail or show up at your door. And in terms of the webmaster almost contacting one, no lawyer is going to take your money before talking for 5-15 min to even figure out what the issue is. And even if you paid for 30 min of a lawyer's time, then they would promptly inform you that you can ignore such requests since you’re not a business.
> I’m dubious that there was even a threat of a lawyer.
The usual legal standard is whether a reasonable person could interpret the email as potentially threatening legal action.
> The request simply asked for a prompt response as required by law.
And such a request reads exactly like something written by a lawyer. Lawyers don't usually explicitly threaten a lawsuit in their first communication. They write something very similar to the email the researchers sent. I can easily see how a reasonable person could interpret those emails as potentially threatening a lawsuit if the request were not complied with, or if the sender did not think the response was sufficient.
> The request simply asked for a prompt response as required by law. That’s quite a stones throw from “I’ll sue you and take you for everything you own if you don’t reply”...BTW, if you are actually being threatened by a lawyer then they send certified mail or show up at your door.
I think you are expected random people operating websites to share your knowledge of the legal system. I know you're right, but most people who operate a website likely don't, and these emails make them spend unnecessary time, money figuring that out; not to mention mental distress.
I find this not dissimilar from a standard "I'm in prison, but know where a million dollars are buried, send me money" email scam; and if researchers were sending those around as tests to see who was gullible, they would be promptly end up on several blocklists. I don't see how this is different; and therein lies the ethical problem. Quite a few people seem to agree.
> I think you [are] expected random people operating websites to share your knowledge of the legal system. I know you're right, but most people who operate a website likely don't, and these emails make them spend unnecessary time, money figuring that out; not to mention mental distress.
But if you're hosting a website, you should have that knowledge. I can't run a business and expect not to be asked about taxes, either. Honestly, as an EU citizen, if I wasn't aware of the GDPR in regards to my websites, I'd have bigger problems than some research study.
That being said, I fully agree that this mail wasn't nice and I can absolutely understand why people became nervous. But things like this are expected and the issue seems exaggerated in that light. Quite a few people seem to agree to this, too ;-)
> BTW, if you are actually being threatened by a lawyer then they send certified mail or show up at your door.
Sure, but if you haven't lawyered up by that point you're going to have a bad time. Doubly so if you aren't familiar with the amount of info-gathering and record-keeping involved in winning a suit--if you don't know what needs to be written down for when you do have to call a lawyer, waiting until the last second can easily shoot your entire case in the foot.
And if you do lawyer up, you're spending massive amounts of money--money that some people just don't have.
However I’m dubious that there was even a threat of a lawyer. The request simply asked for a prompt response as required by law. That’s quite a stones throw from “I’ll sue you and take you for everything you own if you don’t reply”.
BTW, if you are actually being threatened by a lawyer then they send certified mail or show up at your door. And in terms of the webmaster almost contacting one, no lawyer is going to take your money before talking for 5-15 min to even figure out what the issue is. And even if you paid for 30 min of a lawyer's time, then they would promptly inform you that you can ignore such requests since you’re not a business.
Again, what’s the ethical problem here?