Update: Dave Farber has announced that his dispute with Expedia has now been resolved. Too bad that so much unnecessary hassle was involved in getting Expedia to do the right thing.

Greetings. The Internet has undoubtedly and significantly brought all manner of remotely-accessible benefits to many aspects of our lives. These advantages are often extremely enticing, so much so that they tend to mask the evil twin that sometimes lurks parasitically along for the ride.

For some Internet-based services use the fact of Internet access as an excuse to mask a depersonalized lack of customer service, and in some cases a vacuous dearth of ethical conduct -- while still merrily charging our credit cards.

Case in point is massive travel service Expedia -- which trumpets itself as the world's leading online travel company.

Over the last few days I've watched a tragic saga play out over on David Farber's "IP" list, as we've learned of his intense upset at Expedia's refusal to refund monies paid for a trip canceled due to the likely terminal illness of his wife.

Expedia apparently hasn't even been willing to escalate concerns about this matter to a level beyond the, "Sorry, you're screwed!" customer "support" level.

Obviously firms need to be on the lookout for fraudulent attempts to cancel services. But in cases such as Dave's, where not only are the medical realities well documented, but the various involved airlines and hotels apparently would be willing to refund, Expedia's middleman role clutching tightly to the money in this situation is nothing short of unconscionable.

It's possible that Expedia actually does have -- hidden somewhere in their policies -- a clause that handles these sorts of situations in a humane and reasonable manner. But if Expedia patrons are unable to access such policies (if they even exist), and can't get past useless Web help forms and script-reading phone agents whose main purpose appears to be avoiding refunds come hell or high water, then Expedia has proven itself to be unworthy of patronage -- or even existence in any form as far as I'm concerned.

Perhaps this is all some sort of misunderstanding. If so, I invite Expedia to contact me directly and I'll be happy to help sort this out, and then I'll gladly report back here about Expedia's prompt attention to this situation.

But being big and powerful is not an excuse for being petty and greedy. Even if Expedia's actions in this case so far are completely lawful, they appear on their face to be, frankly, abominable.

When the Internet becomes a convenient vehicle for abusing people in clearly unfair and unethical manners, such behaviors denigrate not only the companies and customers directly involved, but also ultimately the entire community of Internet firms and users.

This should be unacceptable to us all.

--Lauren--