Terms of Service MADNESS

[Mario]

Today, PayPal sent me an email with the information that they update their terms of service somewhen in April.
I use PayPal to pay stuff I buy on the Internet. Very comfortable and secure. I like it.

I scrolled down that email, and scrolled and scrolled...and scrolled.
Small print, perfect lawyer speak, links to additional documents and terms which also (might) apply.

Just for fun, I've copied the entire thing into Word. Word counted 117 (!) pages. Subtracting the extra spaces caused by the legalese doule-spacing in some paragraphs, it's still between 90 and 100 DIN A4 / US Letter pages. Yikes!

Which normal person in this world can read this or even understand all the possible legal consequences of each and every word in such an seemingly endless document? I mean, there could be a paragraph somewhere which allows them to charge you with a 250% premium if you use their service on Tuesdays or buy something that is blue...

And since you automatically agree to whatever changes there are this time if you continue to use their service in April, you could be doomed.
Actually, one should consult a lawyer before agreeing to terms of services. Not only for PayPal, but also if you use FaceBook, Google, WhatsApp and others. Hell, these companies don't have terms of services, they have entire libraries filled with terms of service (to which you agree, in full, when using any of their services).

I once (some years ago) wanted to use an app installed by Samsung on my smart phone at that time.

To do this they asked me to read and agree to the terms of service for this app. I scrolled down and the terms of service filled almost 80 (!) screen pages, in a small font. Needless to say that I have never used that app.

Shouldn't there be laws against this? To force them to keep things simple? Understandable for normal people, not only for skilled and expensive lawyers?
In the end, this is "The Google legal department" against you...

[sinus]

Shouldn't there be laws against this? To force them to keep things simple? Understandable for normal people, not only for skilled and expensive lawyers?
In the end, this is "The Google legal department" against you...

I completely agree!!! This should be forbidden.
At the end, this can only read and understand also lawyers and judges.

BUT even these professionals cannot understand such an amount of papers without study them carefully. And carefully means a lot of hours!
I know, from what I am speaking, a very near person is a lawyer since a long time (he has even 2 doctorates), and he explained me things from the world of justice, I could almost not believe.

117 pages, even the 90 pages after delete spaces and even if there where "only 50" pages, this is simply mad, yes. (btw, a bit the same, if you read the pages of a medicine or from a simple toy).

[medgeek]

Shouldn't there be laws against this? To force them to keep things simple? Understandable for normal people, not only for skilled and expensive lawyers?

Of course it's madness. That's the point--the companies cover their rear ends for any eventuality and feel free to insert privacy violating terms buried in dozens of pages of verbiage.  Meanwhile, the users have no idea what they agree to.

As recounted in a Fortune article (http://fortune.com/2016/05/23/absurd-terms-service/) the Norwegian consumer agency staged a reading of the terms of service found on the apps on an average mobile phone, estimated to take roughly 24 hours.  There's even a web site (https://tosdr.org/) that rates terms of service and privacy policies.

Free market fundamentalists don't like to hear this, but in my opinion this represents an abject market failure.  Only government action can remedy a situation like this.

[Mario]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing the link.