Quote Originally Posted by huntm856 View Post
As I understand it socialism refers, strictly speaking, to economic systems under which the state takes ownership of productive enterprises; or more loosely, to economic systems in which the state mandates that some portion of the control and executive leadership of corporate entities be allocated to employees of those entities, not merely reserved to those having equity positions.

Regulation of business practices is *not* socialism.

Think about it: there are innumerable ways in which business practices are regulated in modern western democratic polities -- child labor laws, minimum wage laws, mandated benefits, workplace safety laws, environmental laws, product safety laws, truth-in-advertising, truth-in-lending, anti-usury, non-discrimination, overtime, maximum hours worked, etc., etc., etc. Are these all examples of socialism?

Then, consider the wireless industry, which by its very nature could not exist without government control and licensing of wireless spectrum. By your lights, doesn't that mean that the entire industry is based on a socialist foundation?

What is your definition of socialism? I see people throwing this term about for every sort of business regulation they don't like with little understanding of what the word really means, as far as I can see.
Now I wonder why these carriers can get away with almost anything, and it is due to the lack of consumer's education. Plus this is a civil lawsuit, no one is asking the FCC or FTC to intervene..... Maybe I should not be thinking about spending money in lawsuit but instead to donate it to high schools and hopefully we can have a better educated generation of consumers.