As I type this, the consumer rights organization has been broadcasting its live-reading of terms of service for Instagram, YouTube, Kindle, Spotify, Snapchat and other popular apps for more than one day and eight hours.
It’s a combination of Norwegian “slow TV” (multi-hour videos of train trips and burning fireplaces) and commentary on the abusive terms of service that we allegedly agree to by moving through time and space.
The #appfail hashtag features commentary on the actual terms (which are a veritable parade of horrors, camouflaged by the time-honored tactic of extreme dullness) and commentary on the length of time it takes to read the them. If you need to read for 27 hours a day just to cover all the “agreements” you make in the course of your normal life, how can anyone pretend that the terms of service constitute any kind of agreement?
If this kind of thing bothers you, I invite you to adopt my solution: this text appears at the bottom of all my emails:
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.
Vi leser appvilkår minutt for minutt [Forbrukerradet]
(via Kottke)