ms. palmer. share your story. >> chairman thume, member nelson and other members of the committee. thank you for inviting me to testify today. i am jen palmer and my family's ordeal for a company that tried a negative review demonstrates why this clause should be prohibited. placed an husband order from the online merchant lear gear for a couple of certificates that totalled less than $20. when they failed to arrive, we contacted the company through phone and e-mail. we never got a human being on the phone. the e-mail response was that the order never came through and was not paid for and was canceled. i posted a review and moved on with our lives. in may 2012, john got an e-mail from clear gear demanding this removed within 72 hours or we'd be fined $3500 for violating the nondisparagement clause in their terms of sale and use. this clause, which barred customers from, quote, taking any action that negatively impacts clear gear.com, its services, , products, management or employees, didn't xist w

ms. palmer, they would not have to charge ms. paul murphy what they do is they only get paid if they win the case. the court will award them damages after they successfully when the case. it is a little different than contingency the way congress has drafted consumer protection statutes in the past is to have shifting statutes and that provides direction for consumers like ms. palmer. mccaskill: did the public citizen recover the cost of their litigation? ms. palmer: we are still working on recovering any costs. senator mccaskill: so you have not collected yet? are they still in business? ms. palmer: as far as i know. senator mccaskill: that just drives me crazy. ms. palmer: the judge did award us our settlement and tacked on the lawyers fees for the public citizen as well. so if and when anything ever is collected -- senator mccaskill: which is the fee shifting that he was referring to. if you had lost, they would not have gotten anything. ms. palmer: true. that was always an issue. -- with any of the other lawyers we contacted,

ms. palmer's case.in all other case, when consumers get those threats, the content comes down ininstantly. a federal anti-slap law would help some consumers decide i'm not going to be bullied off the internet, and i won't be betting my house on legal fees that i can defend my interest in court. >> okay. mr. atkinson? >> i would just second mr. goldman's point on that. itif released a report last year on the wholish sue of anti-slap and the impact that it has on the internet economy and commerce. we would agree with that. that's another component. obviously, both pieces of legislation, in our view, are very important. >> thank you very much. mr. chairman, i apologize to you for intruding in your commentary on the royals. [laughter] nearly impossible not to have the continued kansas/missouri battles in the presence of the senator from missouri. [laughter] >> i wouldn't have it any other way. senator schatz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. palmer, thank you for your courage and your clarity. i know you've

ms. palmer, stop poster reviews. hat would really have a chilling effect from consumers to doing it again. i think mrs. palmer is unique and we should applaud her for her behavior. >> very good, thank you. remember i once had a similar thing with a bill and i found some people who have pursued things like ms. palmer did and to talk about, is like cramming in phone bills, it was was a lutheran minister and a math teacher, they had gone to the depths to see these tiny little charges that added up over time. you are in good company i guess. i understand the concerns of small business owners who worry that unfair or frost reviews can hurt their livelihood. was it you mr. atkinson who cited a study showing that one star increase in the restaurants rating at yelp can lead to a five to 9% increase in revenue. to put a less rosy star, one star decrease a one star decrease can have serious consequence of the bottom line. besides non- disparagement clauses what tools do you think small business owners have to address on fair or

ms. palmer wouldn't charge ms. palmer said palmer sodas and contingency.hat they did is they only get paid if they win that case and the court will award them damages after they successfully been the case. so it's a little different from contingency and the weight of way that the congress drafted the statute in the past particularly when it comes to the private enforcement to have those things when they've been damaged like ms. palmer. >> did they recover the cost of the litigation? >> we are still working on tracking klear gear down to recover any cost. >> so you haven't collected data. >> are they still in business? >> as far as i know. >> it should be noted that in the judgment awarded the judge did award or settlement and tacked on the lawyers fees for public citizen as well so if and when anything ever is collected -- so they have the right to recover but if you lost they wouldn't have gotten anything. >> true. they are not interested in aren't interested in working on a contingency basis they want the retainer up front. >> and that is one of the chal

ms. palmer, stop poster reviews. at would really have a chilling effect from consumers to doing it again. i think mrs. palmer is unique and we should applaud her for her behavior. >> very good, thank you. remember i once had a similar thing with a bill and i found some people who have pursued things like ms. palmer did and to talk about, is like cramming in phone bills, it was was a lutheran minister and a math teacher, they had gone to the depths to see these tiny little charges that added up over time. you are in good company i guess. i understand the concerns of small business owners who worry that unfair or frost reviews can hurt their livelihood. was it you mr. atkinson who cited a study showing that one star increase in the restaurants rating at yelp can lead to a five to 9% increase in revenue. to put a less rosy star, one star decrease a one star decrease can have serious consequence of the bottom line. besides non- disparagement clauses what tools do you think small business owners have to address on fair or

ms. palmer.share your story. >> chairman thune, ranking member nelson, and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify. my family's experience with being bullied over a negative review shows why we need this legislation. my husband ordered a couple trinkets that came to less than $20. they failed to arrive and we contacted the company from phone and e-mail. we never received a call but got an e-mail saying payment was never received. i posted a review and we moved on. john got an e-mail from clear gear demanding my review be removed within 24 hours we're we would be fined $3500 from the cause that quote banned taking action that negatively impacts clear gear didn't exist when we ordered the item and the fact john didn't write the review didn't matter. the clause didn't appear until three years after my review was post-ed. we were shocked and scared. i spent hours researching how to remove the review but the website had a policy of not removing them. john spent time explaining t

ms. jennifer palmer glenn mentioned earlier is the one, is one of the named plaintiffs in palmer versus kleargear. mr. eric goldman is professor at santa clara university of law and is also the director of the schools high-tech law institute. and then finally mr. ira rheingold whose executive director of the national association of consumer advocates. so welcome to all of you. which of your today and we will start on my left and a right with mr. medros, am pleased proceeds with your statement and it will give them some questions and hear from the panel. une. thank you for inviting me to testify on a very important topic. i very much appreciate your recent introduction of the consumer review freedom act. i am the head of global product of trip advisor. i lead it team that is responsible for all aspects, including the collection, moderation, and display of traveler reviews. for those who do not recall what it was like to book a trip, prior to the internet must let us rewind. because of the nature of travel and the importance we face on vacations was a risky proposition. weaver and research on your

palmer: mr. roth and ms. grover, do you believe this basic training will help? is it going to get us where we need to be? i.g. roth: it absolutely will help, both in the sense of mission and community that community -- that mr. neffenger referenced, but also, some of the basics we found one being followed -- we found were not being followed. i'm a firm believer in training. that is one of our recommendations. we are gratified that the administrator is following through on that. bothgrover: it is necessary and critical to the development of an appropriate culture and enhancing knowledge support security effectiveness, but it is not sufficient. administrator neffenger mentioned the plan to follow-up to make sure the training itself was getting the desired results, and that is critical. mr. russell of oklahoma asks a question about targeted security. i want to ask about checked bags. mr. neffenger are you aware -- mr. neffenger, are you aware of the leak that occurred earlier where the travel keys were released to the public? neffenger: think i -- i think you are r

palmer: mr. roth and ms. grover, do you believe this basic training will help? is it going to get us where we need to be? i.g. roth: it absolutely will help, both in the sense of mission and community that community -- that mr. neffenger referenced, but also, some of the basics we found one being followed -- we found were not being followed. i'm a firm believer in training. that is one of our recommendations. we are gratified that the administrator is following through on that. bothgrover: it is necessary and critical to the development of an appropriate culture and enhancing knowledge support security effectiveness, but it is not sufficient. administrator neffenger mentioned the plan to follow-up to make sure the training itself was getting the desired results, and that is critical. mr. russell of oklahoma asks a question about targeted security. i want to ask about checked bags. mr. neffenger are you aware -- mr. neffenger, are you aware of the leak that occurred earlier where the travel keys were released to the public? neffenger: think i -- i think you are r