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If you’ve been using the internet for longer than a few days or so, you’ve probably agreed to a handful of terms of service (TOS) agreements. (If you’re reading this as a registered CR4 user, I can think of at least one.) Some TOS agreements are legally binding contracts with potentially severe consequences, and though many are agreed to, very few are read either in whole or part.
The TOS became common with the growth of social media and e-commerce websites or services that deal with a user’s private, personal, or financial data. There are lots of logical reasons why they’re not read; I’ve tried to get through a few but as the last step of a website registration process my impatience typically gets the better of me and I click “Accept” without reading them. Many who have the patience to read a TOS get lost in the dense legalese and give up. This is especially problematic for children, who are likely to be using one or many social media services to communicate.
 Jenny Alfia, a British privacy lawyer, recently translated Instagram’s 5,000+ word TOS into plain English to serve the younger population. The translation was released this month as part of the UK Children’s Commissioner’s Growing Up Digital report, which found that very few if any teens understood Instagram’s full TOS but signed up anyway. Here are a few gems from the rewritten TOS, all of which probably would’ve taken an entire page of legal code in the original:
“We might send you adverts connected to your interests which we are monitoring. You cannot stop us doing this and it will not always be obvious that it is an advert.”
“We can change or end Instagram, or stop you accessing Instagram at any time, for any reason and without letting you know in advance. We can also delete posts and other content randomly, without telling you, for any reason. If we do this, we will not be responsible for paying out any money and you won’t have any right to complain.”
“Although you are responsible for the information you put on Instagram, we may keep, use and share your personal information with companies connected with Instagram. This information includes your name, email address, school, where you live, pictures, phone number, your likes and dislikes, where you go, who your friends are, how often you use Instagram, and any other personal information we find such as your birthday or who you are chatting with, including in private messages (DMs).”
Many 12-15 year olds who had blindly agreed to the TOS questioned their use of direct messaging after reading the translated version, and one quit the service altogether. Of course, it goes without saying that most TOS agreements are some form of contract, and a straightforward contract weeds out the suckers, a situation often disadvantageous for the issuer.
As average consumers get wise to the use of their supposedly private data a number of services have sprung up to help. Terms of Service; Didn’t Read (a riff on tl;dr) classifies TOSs into five classes and provides users with simple thumbs up/down feature ratings. Class A agreements are best and typically allow users plenty of choice over the copyrights and their right to retain their data and painlessly leave the service. In contrast, the lower D and E classes tend to stockpile rights for the service provider, including the ability to change terms without notice and retain user copyrights without permission. YouTube seems to be the most well-known site with a poor Class D rating.
The vast majority of high schoolers I know use some form of social media (usually Snapchat, these days) for almost all communication, and I’d bet that very few understand the terms of service. As a member of the last generation to spend part of my teens without the internet, I don’t envy them.
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Re: Anyone Actually Reading Terms of Service Agreements? Anyone???
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