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Most Online 'Terms of Service' Are Incomprehensible To Adults, Study Finds (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

Two law professors analyzed the sign-in terms and conditions of 500 popular US websites, including Google and Facebook, and found that more than 99 percent of them were "unreadable," far exceeding the level most American adults read at, but are still enforced. From a report: According to a new paper published on SSRN (Social Science Research Network), the average readability level of the agreements reviewed by the researchers was comparable to articles in academic journals. "While consumers are legally expected or presumed to read their contracts, businesses are not required to write readable ones. This asymmetry -- and its potential consequences -- puzzled us," wrote co-author Samuel Becher, a law professor at Victoria University of Wellington, in an email to Motherboard.

4 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. And therefore.... by Sebby · · Score: 4, Informative

    unenforceable.

    --

    AC comments get piped to /dev/null
  2. Basic Contract Law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    For any contract to be enforceable, it has to have real and valuable consideration. Basically, I give you X and you give me Y. Lets say you sign a contract that says you give me your car. Not enforceable. Or, you give me your car, I give you a penny. Also not enforceable - not valuable consideration. Or, you give me your car and I give you $500. Now that's enforceable.

    What does "enforceable" mean? Anybody can break a contract. Lets say you change your mind and you won't give me your car for $500 after you said you would. I'll never get your car (that's called "specific performance" and is pretty rare) but I can sue you for damages. What are damages?

    Lets say I passed up a deal on a similar car for $600 so I could buy yours. Prices went up and now I have to pay $800 to get one. Damages are the difference, $200, and I'd win that in court.

    A law professor told me that this is the basis for all contract law. You give me X, I give you Y. If you change your mind, you're liable for whatever extra your breach of contract cost me.

    Sooooo.... A website's TOS is bullshit. Unless it's giving you a service valuable enough to bother going to court over. And they can't just pull a number out of their asses.

    1. Re:Basic Contract Law by eddeye · · Score: 5, Informative

      A law professor told me that this is the basis for all contract law. You give me X, I give you Y. If you change your mind, you're liable for whatever extra your breach of contract cost me.

      Sooooo.... A website's TOS is bullshit.

      And this is why you don't take legal advice from slashdot. IAAL.

      There is consideration exchanged in website TOS. You get access to the site. They get your data (IP, clicks, browser string, etc). The data has value, even if they don't monetize it. So an exchange is made.

      OP's point is about remedies. If you break TOS he says all they can recover is value of what they lost. Not so. One, violating a TOS can potentially carry criminal penalties under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (dumb I know, but it's possible).

      Two, the problem isn't being sued for the value of your data. The problem is using the TOS to revoke your access to the site on flimsy pretext at the site owner's whim.

      Say the TOS forbids you from saying anything bad about his website. If you break it, he can't stop you from badmouthing his site (recovery limited to value of your data). But he can cut you off from using his site any more. Now imagine that site is Amazon or Google. There's your problem. Imagine a contract that said by entering Walmart you consent to their discriminatory practices. That would never fly.

      Biggest legal argument against website TOS is that they are contracts of adhesion. That means no opportunity to negotiate, no choice but to accept or forego the product. Such contracts are generally frowned upon in consumer goods. Yet somehow they survive in software and websites.

      --
      Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch.
  3. CFPB for Tech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is the same thing the finance industry did with loans and credit cards. They wrote up 20 pages of tiny, tiny print, written at a college graduate level, and got away with stealing from people for years.

    Then Elizabeth Warren got the CFPB created and the government required credit forms to be clear, with details about what you owe and how much it costs you.

    We need this with tech.

    Government isn't always the answer, but government is our protection from corporations who only care about shareholder value and not you, your family, or in some cases, your life.