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Do you think that "terms and conditions" agreements that you click on when using software and...

Do you think that "terms and conditions" agreements that you click on when using software and online services (like amazon, itunes, netflix etc.) are enforceable as a contract? Why or Why Not? Please use outside sources to inform your opinion.  Please also be sure to respond to two classmates regarding their posts per the Discussion Board policy listed in the Syllabus and as outlined in Rubrics and Course Activities within the Course Information folder.

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How Enforceable are Terms of Service Agreements If you use regularly use the Intemet, software or smartphones, youve probably agreed to at least a lew hundred terms of service agreements in your life. Chances are you probably havent read every single one of those agreements, as it would take the average person about 76 work days just to read all of the privacy policies they agree to in a year. However, even thouglh very few people actually read terms of service agreements, they can still contain some pretty important information For example, after the Equifax breach news broke in September, Equifax began offering its TrustedID identity theft protection service for frec. This is something companies tend to offer as a sign of goodwill, but thats not how it was viewed with Equifax, especially once people noticed that Trusted IDs terms of service agreement contained a provision stating anyone who signed up for it also had to settle any legal disputes with Equifax through arbitration, effectively waiving their ability to participate in a class action lawsuit against Equifax. Equifax later removed that provision from TrustedIDs agreement, but it did so bccause of outrage from politicians, cybersecurity experts and the public, not because it legally had to. If terms of service agreements can make you give up your right to take a company to court, then what else can they do, and what are their limits? Rcad on, and well brcak it down for you What makes a terms of service agreement unenforceable? A legitimate terms of service agrecment is legally binding between the parties who agree to it. However, there are a few things that can make terms of service agreements unenforceable. One of the most common unenforceable terms is the unilateral amendment provision, which gives a company the right to change its agreement however it wants, whenever it wants, with or without notifying its customers. Courts have repeatedly found this term unenforceable in cascs like Harris v. Blockbuster Inc, Douglas v. Talk Amcrica Inc. and Rodman v. Safeway, Inc, as it requires people to agree to terms that dont even exist yet. Ifa company wants to include a provision like this, it generally has to notify its customers of agreement changes, provide a grace period for the changes to take effect and limit the agreement to only apply to events that happen after the agreement is amended The way a terms of service agreement is presented to customers also playsa role in how enforceable it is. Most terms of service agreements are exhibited as a wall of text you can read, with a box you can check or a button you can click below it indicating you agree to the terms. These are called clickwrap agreements, because you have to click to get through them, and legally theyre pretty ironclad because the customer has to provide a form of aflirmative conscnt to the agrcement. On the other side are browsewrap agreements, which customers passively agree to just by browsing a website or using a service, that dont hold up as well in court. Since the terms of service arent obvious displayed and theres no explicit way for customers to agree to them, browsewrap agreements make it hard for companies to prove that their customers are even aware of the terms in the first place. For example, in 2012, Zappos actually had its entire terms of service agreement voided in count because it used both a browsewrap agreement and a unilateral enforcement Whats legitimate in a terms of service agreement? Sadly, pretty much everything else. In fact, one of the most loathed clauses in terms of service agreements, the arbitration clause, was recently given a thumbs-up by the U.S. Senate. Arbitration clauses, like the one that Equifax had in its TrustedID agreement, require customers to settle legal issues with the company through arbitration, which is privately run and heavily rules in favor of corporations. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau tried to enact a rule ing arbitration clauses in financial contracts, but the Scnate voted to scrap that rule Terms that allow companies to collect, store and share your personal data ane also completely legal, and, sadly, many big companies now have provisions like that in their agreements. This can be a huge problem, as some of those companies are not equipped to securely store such large amounts of sensitive data. The high number of recent data breaches from those companies have likely contributed to the sharp increase in identity theft cases, and the increasing need for identity theft protection. Personal data terms can also give companics ownership over your information, as demonstrated by Instagram when it tried to amend its terms of service with a provision that would let it sell user photos for advertisements without asking those users for their consent or offering them payment. As with Equifax, Instagram delcted this term when faced with public backlash, but it was stll legal for it to do that. These terms are not only enforceable in civil court, but criminal court, as well The 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or CFAA, makes it a federal crime to access a computer without authorization oin a way that exceed:s authorization. Due to how vague this law is, the CFAA can be interpreted to

mean that violations of company terms of service agreements are also violations of federal law. In 2013, the CFAA was used to prosecute programmer and activist Aaron Swartz after he copied files from digital academic library JSTOR, violating its terms of service. While JSTOR didnt seek to press charges, Aaron Swartz was still charged with crimes under the CFAA, and faced a $1 million fine and a few dozen years in prison. While theres no way to get around agreeing to terms of service contracts if you want to use a particular service, you can decide what consumer rights are important to you and try to find companies that support those rights. Websites like ToSDR.org and TOSBack.org break down the most important parts of many corporate terms of service agreements, so you can easily compare services to find one you think is fair.

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