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Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19110		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:57 am ]
Post subject:  Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22772321

Quote:
With some internet companies' terms and conditions being longer than Shakespeare's Hamlet, could it be that "unfair" clauses in agreements are not even worth the paper they are printed on?

Terms of service online have been in the news in recent years.

In 2012 Facebook's photo-sharing site Instagram updated its privacy policy giving it the right to sell users' photos to advertisers without notification.

Three days later, after a public backlash, the policy was dropped, citing "not communicating clearly".

A month later the number of people using the site was believed to have dropped by nearly 50%.

Yet companies continue to test the boundaries of what consumers are willing to accept.

"Apple reserves the right at any time to modify this agreement and to impose new or additional terms," the iTunes terms of service says.

But most people probably will not have read that when signing up to iTunes.
Author:  l3v1ck [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
Enforcable in Europe? Doubt it.
But who's got the time and the money to go to court over it?
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 6:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
l3v1ck wrote:
Enforcable in Europe? Doubt it.
But who's got the time and the money to go to court over it?

Or the time to read them. They really should be simplified considerably or it should be priced to reimburse us for employing a lawyer to check it. So in most cases they would be paying us.
Author:  jonlumb [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 7:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
A while back I read an article on the fact that it took longer to read Ticketmaster's Terms than they would actually reserve the tickets for after you'd clicked the purchase button. But Ticketmaster have always been a particularly [LIFTED] firm to do business with, so I doubt that's changed.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
They should be simplified to a single A4 page for easy printing. With software if they have simple terms like copyright remains with the developer, and no right to reverse engineer the software. There could be a few other terms but they do not require thousands of pages to declare.
Author:  paulzolo [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
Amnesia10 wrote:
They should be simplified to a single A4 page for easy printing. With software if they have simple terms like copyright remains with the developer, and no right to reverse engineer the software. There could be a few other terms but they do not require thousands of pages to declare.


Ideally, you need to specify the minimum font height and a mandatory typeface so that people don’t start getting clever with type sizes and fonts with tiny x-heights.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
paulzolo wrote:
Amnesia10 wrote:
They should be simplified to a single A4 page for easy printing. With software if they have simple terms like copyright remains with the developer, and no right to reverse engineer the software. There could be a few other terms but they do not require thousands of pages to declare.


Ideally, you need to specify the minimum font height and a mandatory typeface so that people don’t start getting clever with type sizes and fonts with tiny x-heights.

I was thinking 12 point but 16 point Comic Sans could be suitable. :lol:
Author:  jonlumb [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
Make it Papyrus just to annoy the designer crowd ;)
Author:  cloaked_wolf [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
Some of my fave EULAs have been readable in about 5-10 secs. Stuff along the lines of:

- don't steal or hack our software
- don't give it to anyone else
- you can install on your own computer for personal use, but not for business use


Along with a minimum font size and spacing, I'd say limit it to one side of A5 with 2cm borders all around.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
If the terms and conditions are as simple as that then you really have absolutely no excuse to have not read it. In fact most contracts could probably be simplified to that extent. I do get annoyed when Apple update their terms and conditions every single time they have an update to iTunes. Why not simplify it as much as possible and leave out most of the jargon?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.
Author:  davrosG5 [ Thu Jun 06, 2013 5:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
Amnesia10 wrote:
Why not simplify it as much as possible and leave out most of the jargon?


But if we did that, what would the lawyers do?
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is small print in online contracts enforceable?
davrosG5 wrote:
Amnesia10 wrote:
Why not simplify it as much as possible and leave out most of the jargon?


But if we did that, what would the lawyers do?

Get real jobs. There would still be a need for lawyers when goods and services failed to live up to expectations. There would still be plenty of work (patents etc ;) ), though much could be resolved without the use of lawyers which would be good for everyone.
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