Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/04/21/read-carefully.html
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I bought a phone that had Facebook as a burned-in app that couldn’t be removed. I never had an account and never used the app, but the app still called home to Facebook every night.
Show me where my agreement to that is Zuck.
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#deletefacebook if you can…
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It was a Motorola Milestone, and was briefly rootable to allow deletion, but I missed that window.
#blockfacebookattherouter if you can…
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“The incomprehensibility of user agreements is poised to change as tech giants such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Facebook Inc. confront pushback for mishandling user information, and the European Union prepares to implement new privacy rules called the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. The measure underscores “the requirement for clear and plain language when explaining consent,” British Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham wrote on her blog last year.”
While we’re at it, can we also require changes to user agreements to be clearly spelled out in their own summary?
Right now, the standard approach is to tell you the terms have changed, throw 78 pages of text at you (with the implicit dare to spot the change), and ask you to consent.
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And if you have been suspended from FB (they don’t give reasons) do they keep and use your data? There is no way to delete it if you are suspended.
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IMHO, a user agreement aimed at the general public should be able to be read and comprehended in 5 minutes by a person of average education. None of this 2" of legal BS, 2/3 of which is ‘gotcha’ clauses.
#bewareoftheleopard
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As far as I’m concerned, this should exempt every single Facebook user. If the company knows you didn’t read the whole document and they let you continue to use the site/app, then they’re accepting that you didn’t really agree to their terms of use because they know the agreement was unconscionable.
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Proper EULA:
By clicking “accept”, we own you, body and soul.
And I bet people would still click accept.
For the vast majority of the world, the only price that matters is the physical currency-denominated price tag. And priced at $0.00 (plus your body and soul), it provides a service at a price that apparently a billion plus people are willing to pay and I strongly suspect will continue to be willing to pay even when people realize the “body and soul” part - as long as the price tag reads $0.00.
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No Shit, Sherlock scans better, but Brexit and such…
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A meaningless term to an entity without empathy.
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Well, yeah. I’m pretty sure “we own your body” is unenforceable, and since I don’t believe souls exist they’re welcome to that.
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It’s the easiest way to dismiss the jungle of jargon. Nobody really means it.
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Actually, the world is perfectly willing to tolerate this.
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I think the empirical proof that Souls exist is the obvious fact that’s some people lack them. Immortal Souls? Well I don’t know…
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When you create an account on some site, you click yes to the terms and conditions, and the next thing you know you’re getting a phone call from Allison Mack. Oh no, what did I agree to?
Maybe next we can get legislation that’s actually readable by the people who are supposed to be voting on it.
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Maybe users need software which summarizes these huge agreements. Its too much, I suppose for the agreements to be encoded in something other than legalese, but it should be possible to parse that format now, to give at least a top level synopsis for users to flick through.
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Recent versions of Android have the option to disable apps that are force-fed by the supplying telecom. I used to root my phone to get rid of them, but this option makes continuing to receive updates… Some of them, anyway… more palatable.
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Add to your list of providers with really evil ToS agreements Yahoo, Verizon and Oath, Inc. They start out by requiring any aggrieved party to submit to binding arbitration (they get to choose the arbitrator) then they require you to abandon your right to participate in a class action if they screw over a bunch of people. The agreement goes on to tell you that they will vacuum all data off your computer if they can find any economic use for it. In other words, their privacy agreement requires you to abandon all rights to privacy in exchange for using their buggy services.
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