In the midst of a hostage situation in downtown Sydney, Australia, Ayn Rand's favorite car service, Uber, turned on its wildly expensive surge pricing for customers trying to get away from the armed siege. And lest you think this was the fault of an insensitive algorithm that detected high demand, the company tweeted that it was aware of the attack and had raised prices for the fleeing people's own good.

The nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen has volunteered to represent Jen and John Palmer—the coupled fined $3500 for posting a negative review online—in a case against KlearGear.com. Their lawyer, Scott Michelman, has written a letter demanding the company "fix the situation" by Dec. 16 or face a lawsuit.

Like many consumers who have had a bad experience, Jen Palmer wrote a review online in 2008 after the Christmas presents her husband ordered from Kleargear.com never arrived. Years later, thanks to her online review, the couple is facing a damaged credit score and a $3,500 fine.

Trying to keep the Poors out of its exclusive social network, the Financial Times is charging £2000 for an annual membership in the "FT Media and Technology Executive Membership Forum." This includes discounts on FT conferences, where all the real networking is done anyway. Really, can you imagine joining this site and messaging another exec because you don't have enough pull to e-mail them? I can, and that's why this is such a terrible idea for anyone with valuable time.