Over at Information Week, Cory Doctorow points out that the Web is really, really good at humiliating companies that fail to perform as promised (computer techs falling asleep on customers' couches, rats in the kitchen at KFC, etc.). But how can companies become more diligent and responsive to customers without having to be publicly shamed into it?

Doctorow suggests a solution in the form of an ombudsman who takes advantage of the Web's speed and adaptibility to effect positive change. For example, he suggests this salutary change at eVite:

They don't put event details in the body of the message, they want to make me click through to their site, so they can turn me into a monetized eyeball. If Evite used an opt-out-permanently link in their e-mail, people who sent me eVites would get an automated reply telling them why I don't use the service, and asking them to send me a real e-mail instead.