Before I even dive into why the Internet should not have a
Terms of Service Clause let me start with why these “Agreements” are useless to
the user, but at the same time our worst enemy.
Since I’ve been able to use a computer I have never read
through, skimmed, or even acknowledge the Terms of Service before I begin using
the product I want. No one ever said it was bad to do it, I honestly did not
feel in looking at some a lengthy document and I sure did not see why that
could backfire. Today the general public has this conception of “get it done
fast”. And it definitely applies to when we have a new toy to play with. I’d
like to say that humans aren’t stupid (for the most part) and for that when
using a product, toy, or anything that we want, we generally have an idea of
what it is and what it does. You give a toddler a car, and he knows how to use
it, most of the times. He doesn’t need to go through some document telling him
what he gets with the toy, he just uses it. Now let’s apply that to an older
user. For some reason you are deprive child and you just turned 14 and are now
allowed to get an email account (just bear with me on this). This teen knows
what an email account is, he knows the basics of using it, and has a general
idea of what this service will do for him. The Terms of Service isn’t going to improve his experience, so why read it,
click yes I agree and move on. Take itunes as another example, we all know what
it is, so the Terms of service is just some paperwork we don’t care about. In
terms for us the User’s I would say is pretty damn useless. But just cause it may seem useless in our
eyes, doesn’t mean they don’t serve their purpose, and for that they become our
worst enemy in the most dire of situations.
Terms of Service Agreement’s purpose is to inform of what we
agree to when we sign up and outline what we get out of it. Like I said they
state what we know, but they also have stuff that we wouldn’t think of and that’s
how they get us! They also outline what we “forfeit” in return for the service.
Outline what happens when you do X and what is the outcome of it. We all care
for “our privacy” yet unknowingly sign up to give that away. Those agreements
also state what they are allowed to do with the information that we give them,
giving them rightful access to stuff we assume “private”. And it’s not like
this habit is exhibited by a few individuals, a vast majority of people that I
know never look at them. I can’t say 100% of us doing cause honestly there are
always exceptions, but I can safely assume that the percentage is pretty dam
high.
Knowing that sad truth, putting a document like that on the
Internet is just asking us to give up privacy and who knows what else. People
do not generally care to read these documents and making one up for the
internet is just an easy way for us to give up what little privacy we have
left. We are in a digital age, and it’s not too difficult to make a digital
profile of someone by piecing together someone’s scattered internet profiles.
No one likes people knowing your business, and that’s the truth. A Terms of
Service for the Internet would give anyone the right to look into everything we
have done, everything we are doing, and everything we would ever want to do.
-Alvaro E Home
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