the Computers and Society A.@@ZRA ag,o,ra (~g'a -ra) n. A marketplace in ancient Greece, customarily used as a place of popular assembly.For members of this popular assembly,we invite short, substantive communications tightly-focused around a single experience, issue, or theoretical point within the scope of this publication. The Power of One Man and a Web Page or David Runs Over Goliath on the Infinnation Superhighway Much has been written about how the internet will revolutionize society, but despite the hype, many still see it as merely entertainment, or worse, a 'timesink'. I've recently experienced, in my own wallet, what a boon it can be. Like many, I had posted a 'vanity' web page--mostly hobby related links and information. Then came an event that eventually led to David (me) using the internet, and especially the World Wide Web, as a modern day sling against Goliath (Toyota of America, in this case). The background, briefly: I had suffered a blown head gasket on my '91 Toyota pickup. After unsuccessfully trying to throw around my weight as a 4-wheel drive magazine writer, I ended up with a several thousand dollar bill and an acknowledgement from the Toyota service manager that the problem was commonplace (Toyota had redesigned the head gasket to solve it). But Toyota refused to officially acknowledge the problem or make restitution. The internet to the rescue: I began to notice usenet news messages from others complaining about the same problem. Someone had collected several of these reports, and he e-mailed them to me to post to my web page and make them easy for others to access. Continued postings to the newsgroup brought many new reports to add to the page. It became obvious very quickly that this was, indeed, a widespread problem. I also started getting e-mail from people who heard about the page on an e-mail mailing list for Toyota 4-wheel drive vehicles, and wanted to be counted. I asked for, and received, permission from my editor to write an expose article for my magazine on how Toyota was blindly ignoring a major failure in their product, and I posted that 'threat' to the web page. The page received a steady average o f 10 to 20 'hits' a day, and the new reports continued to add up. After several months I got an e-mail from an earlier correspondent, telling me he had gone to work for Toyota. He told me he had mentioned my efforts to someone in consumer relations, and that she told him "that they are aware of your page and your frustrations." He also told me "my impression is that if you push them (which you have already) that they'll bend over backwards in order to get you to take the page off the net." A review of the page's access logs showed frequent hits from toyota.cojp. Not only had Toyota of America noticed the page, but so had their parent company back in Japan. I've never learned which notified the other of the page. The results: Following up, Toyota's Customer Relations department agreed to reimburse my repairs, and to evaluate the rest of the cases "on a case-by-case basis" (they still wouldn't admit to a common problem). They also approved my posting that information and a contact name and phone number on the web page. Feedback revealed everyone was reimbursed. By three months later, Toyota had sent a letter to owners of '88-'93 V-6 pickups, 4-Runners, and T100s extending the warranty on head gaskets to 8 years, 100,000 miles, or one year from the date of notification, whichever was later! What does it all mean? In the past, a consumer faced with a recalcitrant manufacturer had little recourse beyond paying a lawyer to file a class-action suit. They could 'bad-mouth' the company to their friends, or even take out an ad in the newspaper or on a billboard, but the exposure was limited and the company might never know of it. The internet allowed two key things to happen: through the word-of-mouth channels of e-mail mailing lists and usenet news, the message spread quickly; and the WWW allowed a 'black eye' for the offending company to be prominently displayed worldwide (apparently right into senior offices in the company). It allowed disgruntled consumers to create more heat from negative publicity than the company could stan&--for no money and very little effort. Grass-roots political movements have used the internet; now we've seen it work for consumers the same way. It really is "empowering" the people! Mark Gonske The Summit Group gonske@the-summit-group,corn Computers and Society, March 1997

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