Crowdsourcing Can Produce New Ideas, but Run Them by Legal First…

Chris Masse at Midas Oracle links to “How Companies Are Using IT To Spot Innovative Ideas,” an article at Information Week. Among the examples cited:

…Starbucks uses the same voting platform, at MyStarbucksIdea.com, and took an online suggestion posted Oct. 7 by BillMac to offer a free cup of coffee Nov. 4 to anyone in the United States who voted.

As it turned out, at least in some jurisdictions it is illegal to offer inducements to vote and Starbucks decided to offer a free cup of coffee to anyone who asked for one on Election Day.

Here’s the Georgia state law:

“Any person who gives or receives, or offers to give or receive, or participates in the giving or receiving of money or gifts for the purpose of registering as a voter, voting, or voting for a particular candidate in any primary or election shall be guilty of a felony.” [Via the Christian Science Monitor.]