Plus blogs, links to author interviews, resources for critics and book reviewers. “Whether a company buys fake reviews or prohibits consumers from putting up complaints, they are trying to accomplish the same result-deceptively manicuring what their public ratings look like,” says Aaron Schur, Yelp’s senior director of litigation in San Francisco. "As online reviews grow in influence, a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game is evolving," writes Hill, in this important piece. Four+ years later, Lee won, the court calling "the privacy agreement null and void, calling the contract 'a deceptive act or practice in violation of New York General Business Law,' which bars deceptive business practices." The tracker is maintained by The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan good-governance organization.Legal challenges over online reviews seek to separate fact from fiction (Julianne Hill, ABA Journal, 7-1-16) When Robert Allen Lee complained about his NYC dentist on Yelp and DoctorBase, claiming the dentist overcharged him and did not furnish the treatment records that would allow him to make an insurance claim and be reimbursed, she sued him, citing a privacy agreement she made him sign before treatment. What positions are included and not included? Researchers at the Partnership for Public Service follow presidential and congressional actions on approximately 800 top executive branch positions, a portion of the roughly 1,200 positions that require Senate confirmation. The tracker includes all full-time, civilian positions in the executive branch that require Senate confirmation except for judges, marshals and U.S. Military appointments and part-time positions requiring Senate confirmation are not included.īiden has opted to keep some officials appointed by previous administrations in place. There are other officials who were confirmed during previous administrations for fixed periods of time and continue to serve because their terms have not expired. The tracker does not show officials serving in an acting capacity, so positions unfilled by Biden are not necessarily vacant.
All presidents appoint some temporary officials to Senate-confirmed positions to preserve continuity during transitions between one confirmed official and another. While acting officials for high-profile positions are often widely reported, temporary officials for lesser known positions are often not reported publicly - or are done so inconsistently.įor now, the tracker includes official announcements by the Biden transition team and any picks reported by The Washington Post. The tracker will be updated daily as positions are considered and filled. Presidents formally nominate individuals to the Senate to fill each position, a responsibility established in the Constitution. The Senate refers most nominations to a specific committee with jurisdiction over the position.