Routine Dismissive Agreements To Terms Of Service Are A Real Problem (Poll Inside)
Infopolicy: The habit for companies to write terms of service to a length and complexity nobody can understand, coupled with the subsequent habit of everybody of agreeing to them without reading them, has become a real problem. It undermines the concept of contracts as such, and it enables corporations to undermine citizens’ rights without democratic oversight. Maybe regulation is needed.
People are agreeing to anything with a “yeah, whatever” shrug today. A particular website’s terms of service may well include signing away their entire inheritance and house, and it’s likely nobody would notice. This is a real problem, as our ancestors fought hard to give us the rights we have today – rights that are routinely signed away just to play the latest game.
Phi Beta Iota: The law is no longer the law. At the top, governments legalize crime and government agencies become partners in crime with cartels and other forms of organized predation. At the bottom, “terms of service” are so contrived as to waive all existing rights, e.g. to a jury trial, in favor of arbitration or worse, no standing at all. The law has become stupid and irresponsible. Under such circumstances, the law lacks legitimacy. This is a much bigger problem.