How would false advertising be stopped in an anarcho-capitalist (aka free) society? I can understand how fraud can be dealt with - if you make a contract with me, there must be some 3rd party we’re agreeing to have arbitrate disputes in that contract (or one or both of us are fools). If you attempt to defraud me, I will take my complaint to the agreed-upon arbitrator. If you refuse to meet your obligations then, at some point, force may be used to collect the amount defrauded or, at least, punish you for the fraud.
But take the internet. Let’s say I put up a website and sell water pills that I claim will heal cancer. Clearly, this is fraudulent, but who is the arbitrator? When you buy my snake-oil pills and they don’t help with your cancer at all, how do you take recourse against me?
Clayton -
You can be held liable for fraud by mediator or private court. You’d be named in a tort, and if you didn’t respond judgement would be against you. You of course could refuse to pay, but word would get out about your “product” and your behavior, and you’d go out of business.
If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is…
With this newfangled intarweb thingie it is pretty trivial to research a product to see if it lives up to its claims.
You wouldn’t buy something off ebay from someone with a whole lot of negative feedback would you?
Good example, I’m currently bidding on an item on that site so I go out into the internet proper and do some research on it to see if it is a good deal, common problems and owner reviews. Based on this info I have concluded that my high bid is the absolutely highest I will pay for this item and as soon as someone outbids me then that’s it, the current owner can benefit from my driving up the price but that’s the extent of our relationship.
If you chose to place your health into the hands of someone who’s only skills are setting up a pretty website and making claims about a miracle cure then who am I to stop y’all from doing business? As they say, ‘a fool and his money are soon parted’.
Ebay does also have private arbritage and buyer protection that is completely independent of any government monopoly to deal with common problems that come up as another example of how this could be dealt with.