Internet Terms of Service is Bad Idea

Terms of Service for the Internet is a terrible idea.  A Terms of Service agreement essentially outlines what you can and cannot do when using whatever product or service the terms are for. In today's world, the Internet serves as an outlet for people to express themselves and their opinions to the world without fear of judgment, something they may not feel they are able to do in the real world.  For some people, the Internet is their only means of connecting and interacting with others.  It is a vast and limitless source of knowledge and entertainment that many feel we would not be able to survive without, and is probably the most unique and powerful thing that has been created by mankind.  That being said, any attempt to place rules or restrictions or terms of any kind on such an entity would be a bad idea.  

The main issue with terms of service is that they usually require users to grant access to certain kinds of data, which many people feel is a violation of their privacy.  Public outrage at bills like CISPA was incredibly strong because the people saw it as a violation of their rights to privacy on the Internet.  In addition, it was recently discovered through whistle blower Edward Snowden that the National Security Agency was keeping records of all activity on the Internet in the name of national security.  Naturally, this has sparked a heated argument about whether or not it's acceptable for the government to spy on citizens if they claim it's done to protect the country from foreign threats.  I think that it's safe to assume that if an Internet Terms of Service were created it would include some kind of section that allows the government to have access to the kind of information that the NSA was gathering, the kind of private information that the average citizens feel the government has no right to be viewing.

I feel that if an attempt to implement some sort of Internet Terms of Service was made, there would be a public outcry about trying to limit or lessen the people's freedoms on the Internet.  The Constitution of the United States already provides rules and restrictions on the freedom of the people - rules that have been applied in the past where the Internet has been concerned - so any attempt to add to that by placing Terms of Service on the Internet won't accomplish anything good.