Is it right to name and shame on the web?

Everybody's favourite entrepreneur, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has become embroiled in an angry discourse with the BBC, which recently questioned his ethics after his easyCar business started naming and shaming customers late returning their hire cars (see http://www.silicon.com/a56390 for the original story).

All customers who hire one of easyCar's fleet of Mercedes A Class vehicles have their picture taken. If they are then more than 15 days late in returning the car the picture is put on the website and they are named and shamed.

This seems fair enough - after all, surely there comes a point when lateness becomes tantamount to theft, or at the very least gross dishonesty, and 15 days seems to be a very generous cut off point. Traffic in London can be bad - but not that bad. If somebody is 15 days late in returning a £15,000 car then chances are it's no accident. As such, do they really deserve any sympathy if upset by the naming and shaming tactic?

Once somebody has transgressed in this way they must know the company they have wronged is likely to start to come looking for them using whatever means it has at its legal disposal - and easyCar's methods appear to be above board.

Of course there is a knee-jerk reaction whenever the phrase 'name and shame' is used - partly due to the irresponsible way such campaigns have been implemented in the past. Tabloid newspapers notably scored a series of own goals with the botched naming of shaming of paedophiles and the lynch mob mentality evoked.

But with easyCar all customers sign terms and conditions which state they are aware they run the risk of such a naming and shaming should they break T&Cs. None can claim surprise when their moment of infamy comes thanks to a mugshot on the easyCar website. Similarly none can claim mistaken identity. The picture is taken when you hand over your credit card, shortly before stepping into the car and driving away.

Haji-Ioannou's businesses have made excellent use of the internet over time. Sales of easyJet seats have rocketed and hit new levels of efficient transaction thanks to the company's understanding of the internet. Similarly, easyCar is almost entirely web-based. It seems reasonable the company rely once more upon a medium it understands and appreciates so well to defend itself against the impropriety of a handful of dishonest customers.

And the system appears to be working. Currently there are no easyCars more than 15 days overdue at large in the UK, whereas on occasions in the past there have been half a dozen or so. People are clearly in fear of the all-pervading net.

You only have to look at stories such as the infamous 'Brian and Sarah' saga of last summer (see http://www.silicon.com/a54777 for more) to appreciate the web's awesome ability to disseminate shame and bring people to 'justice' - albeit a retribution that many still regard as a little rough.

If your name is mud on the internet then you've nowhere to run. That's probably worth remembering should you ever find yourself toying with the idea of keeping your easyCar for 'a few extra weeks'.