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FSFE Interview With 'Terms of Service: Didn't Read' Founder
An anonymous reader writes with an interesting interview "Hugo's project Terms of Service: Didn't Read has recently won international attention in publications such as TIME, Le Monde, and ZEIT, in its campaign to simplify the legal terms of web services. He is FSFE's French Team coordinator, co-founder of the Digital Freedoms association, and in 2009 did extensive work on the impact of Europe's Interoperability Framework (EIF) on Free Software users."
I almost didn't click the link, but tos-dr.info contains some ridiculously convenient roll ups of all those Terms of Service I never read.
It's nice to see at a quick glance which services are being shady a-holes in which ways.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
They even have extensions/addons for various browsers, to expedite my (and presumably, your) laziness.
To be fair to we consumers, ToS' are so absurdly convoluted and lengthy that no one but a lawyer who specializes in that sort of thing will A) have the wherewithall to actually read it, and B) the knowledge of legalese to understand what's written.
Anecdote: My brother updated his iTunes this weekend, part of which entailed agreeing to a new ToS - I shit you not, it was over 50 pages of legal mumbo jumbo written in a font so tiny I almost had to break out the on-screen magnifier just to read it.
We shouldn't have to hire lawyers just so we can install software without getting fucked.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese