The Fine

Chapter 4 - The Revelation

Something very strange and very wrong was going on behind the doors of this whole ordeal behind FOTOL and Elmore Stream-it.

But what?

Well, the answers will be clear quite soon.

"I'm afraid it wasn't my client that suggested the whole 'removal of comments' thing" said the lawyer of Stanwell. "The idea to remove some features was none other than Elmore Stream-It's. During our meeting, they suggested that some features were to be removed in videos marked for kids. It was their best way of compliance with FOTOL".

"That doesn't clear up the situation" continued Smith. "There's still a lot of matters that need clarification. For example, what kind of threat do likes and mini-players pose to children?"

"And why do you ask that?" questioned Stanwell's lawyer.

"Well, in the videos I've seen so far that have been marked for kids, the mini-player, and the likes and dislikes have been disabled".

"Well, I cannot explain that" clarified Stanwell. "All we asked them to do is carefully mark videos as for kids or not and do something about the comments and features that could pose a threat to children's online privacy. And they only said they would do exactly that. They didn't really clarify how exactly they were going to do it".

"That still won't clarify why your fines are so through-the-roof that no one would be able to afford anything for months or the remainder of their lives" objected Smith. "Up to $50,000,000 of cash gone just because someone cannot follow these confusing and incomprehensible guidelines. From what I know, an average American budget can range up to $62,000".

"And when it comes to our financial situation, we were lucky our lawyer here had a pretty tame price tag on his head" added Nicole.

"I thought it was much cheaper" questioned Richard, looking at the very high price on the tag on Smith's head.

"That's the tag for the cost of my construction and assembly" corrected Smith. "The cost still stands the same". Richard could only answer with a relived sigh.

"Can we steer this car back on topic?" was heard from an annoyed Mike Stanwell.

"Indeed we shall" replied his lawyer. "Anyway, it's perfectly clear that too much people have been reading fake new stories on the internet. My client would never break the budget of innocent families like they say he does. He issues these fines as up-to-$50,000,000 as it is best to assume that the violator is a mass media corporation with a budget that can withstand a removal of $50,000,000. The number of the fine depends on the offence, like if someone is caught cheating the system or marking a kids video for the opposite audience just so they can escape the removal of certain features. When it comes to the latter, a huge offence means a huge blow for the offender."

"I'm starting to see your point clearly" said Smith. "But I'm still not sure as to why you're randomly ordering videos to be marked for kids when they contain content clearly not for children".

"Again, that's not up to the DAO". There were more words that were said, but those ones, along with the ones that followed, were beginning to make the ordeal much more interesting. No one was sure who the case was in favour of, but the Stream-It community was starting to look like complete idiots. The fate of the case was most definitely uncertain.

Back at the house...

No one was any less confused about the entire situation.

"They're not responsible for ordering videos to be marked for kids!?" asked Gumball, beginning to panic out of confusion.

"They didn't order the comments and miniplayer to be taken away!?" contributed Darwin.

"They aren't the ones hunting for violators!?"