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Blockbuster lawsuit

Friends,

I believe a lot of people are misunderstanding the situation, or my intentions, so I would like to clarify.

The problem: Large companies have forgotten how to provide good customer service. Not only have they forgotten, but now I feel that they purposely take every small chance they can get to take advantage of their customers. And sometimes in doing so, they cross the line and break the law, walking all over our rights, that are supposed to be protected by the law.

Background: The Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 was passed in reaction to the disclosure of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental records in a newspaper. The Act stands as one of the strongest protections of consumer privacy against a specific form of data collection.

The current situation: Facebook started a new marketing program named Beacon, in November 2007. Quite a few companies were enrolled into the Beacon program, including Blockbuster. Beacon was designed in such a way, that when you purchased (or rented) something from a participating company, that information was posted to Facebook's News Feed, for all friends to see. Sounds like an ingenious marketing program! BUT Blockbuster had not received written consent from their blockbuster.com customers to provide Facebook with their rental information! That is where the line was crossed and the law was broken.

How far will we let them go?

What we can do: Stand up for our rights! Don't just stand around and complain about it. The more we let go, the worse things will get! If we let them get away with making our video records public, then soon our medical records will be public. We are the paying customers, and without our money, companies wouldn't be able to stay in business. Do not let companies get away with breaking any rules, especially at our expense.

Facebook did not break any laws, and the lawsuit was never against them. But now, Facebook has CHOSEN to cover for Blockbuster, and therefore have gotten themselves involved in the lawsuit. Not a smart decision. Blockbuster violated our privacy, broke a law while doing it, and now are trying to hide behind their Terms and Conditions agreement, and also hide behind Facebook rather than taking responsibility.

I also want to be extremely clear. I CAN'T stand it when ignorant people sue others for NO GOOD REASON. It is rediculous. For example, the robber that was trying to break into someone's house and fell through the ceiling and sued... again, ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?! He was breaking the law, trespassing, with criminal intent, and HE is the one that fell. Even still... let's say he wasn't breaking any laws, and was just a friend... accidents happen. I hate it when people sue others over an ACCIDENT.

And one more thing I want everyone to know... I am NOT participating in this lawsuit because I want any money!!! I would rather NOT win any money, because I feel that it interferes with my true intentions... PROTECTING OUR RIGHTS!! This is NOT about ME!! I am representing EVERYONE! This law is in place to protect EVERYONE, and the law was broken! I would not have to sue if law enforcement was doing their job... enforcing the law, right?! But they are NOT! Blockbuster is STILL ILLEGALLY giving Facebook everyone's rental information. You just don't know it!

Also, I know that Facebook is not intended to be a super private website! I get that. BUT I expect it to be private to an extent. I get to CHOOSE who my friends are. I then get to choose what it is my friends do and do not see. I only upload pictures that I want my friends to see. I only write a status that I don't mind my friends reading. Also, I DID NOT sign-up for ANYTHING to link my Blockbuster account to Facebook. I PROMISE. And it is NOT about me! Blockbuster did this to MANY people who were not even aware of it.

I just want the world to be better place. I try to live by the Golden Rule , "Treat others as you would like to be treated". It has always bothered me to the core when people have used the excuse "Well, life's not fair". You're right, it's not. God allows evil things to happen. God allows people to be born with disabilities. BUT WE ARE NOT GOD AND WE SHOULD DO WHAT WE CAN TO MAKE THE WORLD MORE FAIR. I firmly believe that God allows unfair things to happen, as a lesson for us, a chance for us to show love and compassion... a chance for us to TRY and make things fair.

I was NOT expecting this lawsuit to be a big deal, known by all. The lawsuit was actually filed in April of 2008, and I have never brought it up before until I was asked to do an interview for Fox News. I was expecting Blockbuster to apologize, settle outside of court, change their bad-habits, and for other companies to learn the easy way by learning from Blockbuster's mistakes. But Blockbuster is fighting it... THEY are the ones deciding to make this into a bigger deal. I will just continue to hold them accountable on behalf of everyone they violated.

I am obviously a "Rights Fighter" but hope to do so while staying on the path of God's Will for my life. Being so outspoken makes me a target for Satan, but if this publicity is used to "expand my boundaries", then so be it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I would appreciate any words of encouragement.

~Cathryn

Call for Height Equality in More Sporting Events

Okay, so I am short. At only 5'1" I find myself thinking about the advantages tall people have over me. Literally, OVER me. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be just 4 inches taller. Anyways, did you know that you have to be 5'11" to play women's volleyball? Isn't that discrimination? Okay, how can I articulate exactly what I am thinking? How can I communicate how stupid and ignorant this is? Maybe it would help if I stated the basics of the sport…

1. You have a ball, you have a net, and you have two teams
2. The net divides the court in half.
3. One team on each side of the net.
4. The net is ?? many feet above the ground.
5. The ball cannot touch the ground.
6. The teams hit the ball back and forth over the net in hopes the other team will miss and the ball will hit the ground on the opponent's side of the court.

Now, of course it is a little more complicated and officials have rules and guidelines, but you get the idea. But there is ONE thing that rules cannot put a cap on… someone's height. You could be a foot taller than the net, or in most cases, the same height. So, if that is okay, then would it be okay for me to come along and stand on a 1 foot platform? Of course not! But yet I would be the same height as all the other team members. Are you starting to get my point?

Now let's talk about men's pro basketball. The basketball goal is like 10 feet from the ground. Now, whoever made the game up was probably short and thought the game would be more fun and challenging if the net was a lot higher off the ground. But isn't it kind of like cheating when you get someone who is 8 feet tall?! Well, I can't say that's cheating, but it is definitely an unfair advantage and no matter how hard I practice, I won't be that tall.

Now in wrestling there are divisions. Lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight, etc. Now THAT is what I am talking about. There is something for everybody and no one really has a HUGE advantage over anyone else. So wouldn't it make sense to carry that out in all sports? For example, women 5'3 and under would be in the low-height division with a net only 6 feet above the ground. And women 5'4" – 5'9" in the middle-height division with a net 6 and a half feet above the ground. And so forth. And it would be almost the same thing in basketball.
I have always been a very athletic person and I think it stinks that I was pretty much eliminated from ever playing volleyball or basketball when I like the sports and I'm not bad… for a short person. So, I stuck to only Gymnastics, soccer, and softball, but a tall person could have their pick from all the choices. It's not fair! And I am tired of people saying "well, life isn't fair". That's true, but is no excuse! If we can do something to help make this life just a little more fair and enjoyable for everyone, then shouldn't we?

- My numbers and calculations may be off. But you get my point.

Age has nothing to do with Relation

Now, I am a very picky person. I am not at all picky with punctuation, and I know that I am comma happy, so please do not criticize my grammar or choice of words. But, I am picky about many things and this being one of them.

The whole idea of having names for different relationships (i.e. aunt, uncle, cousin, brother, best friend) is so that when you are speaking to someone who does not know who you are talking about, they understand the subject's relation to you.

The only time age has something to do with your relationship to someone else is when we are traveling up or down the parent/child ladder. For example, the youngest mother on record is a 5yr old (sick!) so, someone's mother HAS to be AT LEAST 5 years older than the child, and a grandmother 10 years older, and so on. Wow… I wonder what it would be like for my grand-mother to only be 10 years older than me. Maybe if we all started having children earlier we would know more of our family, and longer! Ha! Sorry, that's my ADD kicking in. And please don't take all of my comments literally. Besides, I think the consequences of having children that young would definately out number the benefits.

Now, back to what I was saying... when we are talking about cousins and aunts or uncles, age has nothing to do with your relationship! For example, a mother has a son when she is 20 and accidentally has another son when she is 40. The two brothers are now 20 years apart. The older brother has a child at the age of 21 and now the younger, one year old, brother is now an uncle.

I dated an uncle (not my own) that was the same age as his nephew, and it drove me crazy when he would call his nephew his cousin! I told the uncle, that I was dating, "He is NOTHING like your cousin. He is your brother's son. He is NOT your aunt's son". But just because the ages of all his cousin's was about the same as his nephew, he thought it would be alright to consider his nephew a cousin.

Maybe I have gotten pickier since being a mother. I want my children to be educated. But I have found myself picking on my husband, Bobby, a little bit about his choice of words when describing someone. Bobby's best friend's name is David, and I caught Bobby talking to our daughter, Caitlyn, about "Uncle David". Umm… no. He is not her uncle. Caitlyn already has 7 biological and adopted uncles. PLEASE DO NOT confuse the child more than she already will be. Besides, to hold a title such as "Best Friend" is an honorable thing. You pick and choose your friends, not your family. So, give credit where credit is due.

I could go on with more examples, but I don't think it's necessary. I hope you get the idea.