It is a false democracy. We believe that we have the decision to choose something whether we want it or not, but in many cases we are forced to choose things because there are no other options. With social media, we do not even feel that we are forced to accept those conditions because the choice presented is either to accept to continue creating an account on one of the social media or to reject those conditions and thus not be able to create the account.
- The beginning of the story:
Many may wonder about the legality of these terms and conditions, but the issue began in the eighties of the last century when the process of purchasing wrapped CDs began, and there was something called "shrink wrapping combination", which is when buying a CD Office, for example, which belongs to Microsoft, and when opening the bag, I, as a consumer, agreed to the terms that I did not read and have no idea about yet, and they are originally inside with the CD in order to protect its programs, such as reselling it or changing its programming or anything else, and at that time it was legal, and those written terms are the basis for the digital terms that I agreed to today to download any program or application
- Why we don't read it:
The numbers are scary, as studies indicate that 98% of people who agree to the terms and conditions do so without reading the terms and conditions, which are designed so that users do not read them, as companies use the principle of information overload, which includes a very large amount of information, in addition to our belief that these companies are large companies and will not set any conditions that harm their users, in addition to the style of writing the terms and conditions, which are in one style without colours or bold, which makes us as users not read them.
- Fatal Accident:
In October 2023, a man named Piccolo went with his doctor wife, who suffers from an allergy to dairy products and some types of nuts, to Disney Springs, which is part of Disney World in the US state of Florida. According to the Disney Parks website, Disney Parks restaurants attach importance to the issue of food allergies. Then, after the couple went to one of those restaurants, it was confirmed again that the foods served were free of dairy products and nuts. After finishing the meal, the couple took a tour. During the tour, which was a few hours after eating, the wife felt suffocated and was taken to the hospital, but she passed away.
The cause of death was the presence of dairy products and nuts in her blood, and thus the reason was negligence by the restaurant responsible for her death.
It was natural for the husband to file a lawsuit against Disney, but the shock was that Disney's lawyers confronted the lawsuit with invalidity, and the reason is that the husband in 2019, four years before the accident, and when opening a Disney Plus account, he agreed to the terms at the time, which stipulate that the subscriber does not have the right to file a lawsuit against Disney, as one of the clauses stipulates not to file a lawsuit against Disney in the event of any dispute.
- Between the lines:
The fair terms of the agreement ensure that we are the ones who click on the approval, but for example, the click that is automatically present to send information to you via your email or use your information to improve the application, which hides behind it a lot of ambiguity.
In 2005, a software company stated in its terms and conditions that when you send an email after reading the terms and conditions, you get a prize of $1,000. Out of all the people who agreed to the terms, only one person read the terms and sent an email and was able to get the reward. In 2014, in the United Kingdom, a company that provides free Wi-Fi stated in its terms and conditions that you agree to 1,000 hours of community service.
- Examples of terms agreed to:
Amazon Prime terms include that the subscription is automatically renewed and Spotify terms include agreeing to any change in the terms and conditions, and this is just an example. The idea of agreeing to terms without reading them is dangerous, especially with the ability of these companies to evade legal responsibility.
- The best solution:
The solution is to use artificial intelligence programs such as ChatGPT or any other program by copying the terms and conditions to extract the most important points and know what they include.
This may not be ideal, but at least you can get an idea of what the terms he agreed to include without knowing what they are.