Paul writes, “I’ve created a free service called ParanoidPaul that notifies you when updates are made to the terms that affect you. I strongly believe that the websites we use every day should be accountable to their users, and transparent about changes made to their privacy policies and terms of services.”
Anything that’s been added is highlighted in green and anything removed is crossed out in red, allowing you to quickly and easily scan the changes.
Rarely do we read or even understand all of the inner workings of these documents, but seeing how they’re updated… well, that starts to get interesting. These terms, by which we are automatically bound when using a website, continuously evolve and change. What’s surprising is that modifications are often made silently, without an update to the posted “last modified” date. You wouldn’t otherwise know that anything changed, and that isn’t fair! It’s our right to stay informed about how these businesses use our personal information.
This is a great step, but of course, it’s generally the case that virtually everything in a terms-of-service is unreasonable bullshit, and any changes to such a document are usually for the worse.
I like my email sig for this:
READ CAREFULLY. By reading this email, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies (“BOGUS AGREEMENTS”) that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.
(Thanks, Paul!)