I know we’re all jaded nerds on this corner of the internet that are well aware of “if you’re not paying, etc. etc.” but there’s real value in investigations like this.

I think especially because this investigation unearths the business models of predatory companies like these. It shows that these are not isolated incidents, and that this is the process by which corporate giants become giants. If there's anything to be jaded at, it's that late stage capitalism is moving closer and closer to the state of anarchocapitalism as time passes. These practices are so embedded, there's literal instruction guides in every corporate marketing department on how to circumvent consumer protection laws... assuming the consumer protection "agencies" aren't just working to protect the corps interests from lawsuits in the first place.

People need to know these things.