Antitrust trouble for cloud services
There are two reasons that no one ever reads terms of service.
The first is obvious: theyāre garbage. Performatively dull, deliberately obfuscated, impossible to read and understand (literally - they are comparable to academic journal articles).
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3313837
The second reason is also important: if you somehow manage to figure out what youāre āagreeingā to, youāll quickly realize that you donāt agree to any of it. ToS all boil down to āBy being stupid enough to be my customer, you agree that I get to abuse you any way I see fit.ā
In a just world, āadhesion contractsā (agreements you donāt get to negotiate) would have limitations on them - anything that no person would ever freely agree to would be judged āunconscionableā and thus unenforceable.
We donāt live in that world, alas. But things are changing. Thereās an anti-monopoly mood in the air, and lawmakers and regulators are getting the sense that the public will have their back if they challenge corporate giants and force them to pay for their bad deeds.
Which explains why the AGCM (Italyās antitrust regulator) is probing Google, Apple and Dropbox over the manifest unfairness of their terms of service.
https://www.agcm.it/media/comunicati-stampa/2020/9/CV194-CV195-CV196-PS11147-PS11149-PS11150
The probe addresses half a dozen abusive elements of these ācontractsā:
Collecting user data for commercial purposes without valid consent
Forcing arbitration and making users surrender their right to sue in a real court
Reserving the right to shut down or suspend the service without giving users notice and the ability to extract their files
Limiting liability for loss of user data due to negligence or indifference
Reserving the right to unilaterally alter the contract without negotiation or notice
Defaulting to English, making it hard to access the Italian version of the terms
https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/07/apple-icloud-google-drive-and-dropbox-probed-over-unfair-tcs-in-italy/
All of this is self-evidently unfair, and it does great violence to the very idea of an āagreementā - the cornerstone of civilization.
Thereās a classic Lenny Bruce bit about this: civilization begins with an agreement about where to shit, sleep and eat: āWeāll sleep in Area A, is that cool? OK good. Weāll eat in Area B, good? Good. Weāll throw our crap in Area C.ā
https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2017/08/25/lenny-bruce-berkeley-concert-1965-full-transcript/
The transformation of freely agreed-upon terms into adhesion contracts undermines the very basis for our civilization, by equating actual contracts with āBy standing there shouting āhell no I donāt agree,ā you agree thatā¦ā
This is just a baby-step, but man is it overdue ā and a hopeful sign for the future. Bravo!