Terms of Service
I’ve definitely lied multiple times about reading the terms and conditions and clicking that check box just to proceed. I’m sure that there are many others that lie about this too. But why? This week’s readings got me thinking about why I never choose to thoroughly read of the terms and conditions, and I came up with three main reasons.
1. tl;dr
“tl;dr” is an internet slang that stands for “too long; didn’t read.” (I find it funny that the phrase itself is abbreviated because four words is still too long.) Based on my past encounters with this phrase, there’s usually a really long post containing a few essential pieces of information with the addition of fluff to spice it up. At the very top or very bottom of the post, there is one line (maximum two) that starts with “tl;dr” and contains only the essential information. The fact that this was created says something about our disliking of long posts. Another way to think about this is: When scrolling through social media, do you take the time to read posts that look more like an essay or scroll past them? No one wants to read a lengthy statement on things most people don’t even understand, which leads me to the second reason.
2. What is the FAA?
“As limited by the FAA, these Terms and the JAMS Rules, the arbitrator will have exclusive authority to make all procedural and substantive decisions regarding any Dispute and to grant any remedy that would otherwise be available in court, including the power to determine the question of arbitrability.” This is directly copied and pasted from Medium’s terms of services. What in the world does this mean? Half — if not more than half — the language used in the terms of service are not written in colloquial speech. Even after reading the full agreement, it might be hard to understand what it actually means. So, what’s the point? I believe this is another reason why people avoid reading the terms of service.
3. this = that
I’ve tried reading a few terms and conditions, terms of services, and other agreements prior to installing an application or creating an account. However, they all talk about similar things; liability, data, something about taking it to court, rights and ownership, etc. They’re essentially all the same. But there could be small portions of it that you don’t want to agree to. This video that tries to prove how no one reads the terms and conditions portrays the “slip up” very well. For instance, even if a terms of service had a line that said “by agreeing to this, you will die,” no one would know because no one would have read it.
It’s honestly a pain to read through pages of information that sometimes doesn’t even make sense when you can be enjoying activities that excite you instead. Does this mean I will read the next terms and conditions I have to agree to before checking that box? Probably not. However, knowing the one in a million — maybe billion — chance that the terms and conditions can kill me might urge me to at least skim through it.
#Dgst101 (3/8–3/14)
