"No, Your Honor, of course I didn't read it or actually consent. I just wanted to keep reading my e-mail."
 

Several times this week, Google Corporation has turned-off my e-mail accounts, forcing me to re-enter (the same ...) password in order that they could present me with a basket full of verbiage in a dialog box with only one "right answer": "I Agree."

Trouble is – "I have no idea what the text actually said." Furthermore, I knew that, if I didn't push "that button," I would no longer have access to my e-mail account and therefore to all of the e-mails that were in it. Hence, I had no "decision" at all. Hence, I clicked the button.

But: I did not, in fact, "agree."

The closest legal comparison that any of this "increasingly nonsense boilerplate" has to me, in my non-lawyerly opinion, is the so-called [i]"exculpatory clause":
Exculpatory clauses are dying on the vine. Consider, for instance, this Wisconsin lawyer's essay to other Wisconsin lawyers.

... but I am quite sure, even though I did not bother to read it, that the verbiage in question also had me granting Google Corporation even more "permission" to eavesdrop on my every word. And in this, it would be a "contract modification," except for one small thing: "there is no contract!"

I've never paid one thin dime of "lawful consideration" to Google Corporation – not even the obligatory "one dollar." I merely created an account with them – at no cost – and thereafter used them "as an SMTP email-server provider." The services that they provide to me, from my(!) point of view, are identical to that of any other. I never paid them, therefore I have never, in fact, entered into any sort of "contract" with them, at all!

For this and a variety of other reasons, I predict that corporations around the world who are happily "data mining" all sorts of information about people – from any and every source they can get their hands on – will soon be facing legal penalties that will be easily large enough to put them completely out of business. The "happy go data" world that we now live in is very-rapidly drawing to a permanent and decisive close.

Related and worth watching:

http://tacma.net/

Well said.

I think you're being unreasonably optimistic. I predict no such penalties will be levied, ever.

One can hope, but I tend to agree with ntubski.

The deck is stacked against reason and sanity.

Just try to keep google out of your life as much as possible.

I, on the other hand, foretell that it is only a matter of time. This reckless exposure of information creates a vulnerability, indeed for an entire society, the likes of which has never before been known because it has never before been possible. Twenty years after Orwell's "1984," we willingly created and bedecked ourselves with something far, far worse. And so, it is only a matter of time before some person(s), with hearts as black as night if they have one at all, will exploit it.

I say this because such people are always "out there." And the biggest weapon in their hand is that nobody's looking. High-explosives experts blew down three buildings in downtown Manhattan on a work-day, skillfully dropping all three into their own footprint, and they necessarily did it right under our noses. It ought to be inconceivable that anyone would actually do that. But, it isn't. And that is what war has become. (Bring your billions of dollars' worth of warships and armies back home. They're utterly useless to defend you against ingenuity, and the exploitation of vulnerabilities that you created.)

Today, we exercise no control whatsoever, either upon what sort of information is collected, nor who has it, nor "where in the world Happy Little 'Cloud'™" it might be. We indiscriminately hire people from the very same places – or, very close to the very same places – where we are bombing, and we put them in our data centers, happily displacing native workers merely because they're "cheap." But, are we watching? No. They've found a source of "indentured servants" and that makes their balance-sheets look better. They look no farther. They find a place with cheap electrical power and cheaper labor, and see only "Americans" there. No one corrects them. The Americans do not see the glint in their eyes, because they do not choose to see.

People don't have the faintest idea of how utterly naked they are, because they have not yet been forced to confront it. Emphasis: "Yet!"

But, when they finally do, there will be Holy Hell to pay, around the world.

If you're wondering what World War III will actually be: "this is it."

If it's your opinion that you do not have a contract with a provider because you haven't paid them anything then do you hold the same position that the provider doesn't have a contract with you? In which case they can do what they like with whatever you're providing them for free. You'll generally find that if you do not agree with changes in terms and conditions put in place by providers you will generally have a "grace period" during which time you can make use of their facilities to download your e-mail via another protocol such as POP/IMAP before they turn off your service.

Large service providers have vast (expensive) legal teams and you can be sure that they are well aware of the law regarding what constitutes a contract (on both parties) regardless of "consideration".

Have you tried actually paying for an email service rather than using one which lets you pay by giving up your privacy then complaining about it?

Is this with a standard GMail account? I only see that maybe several times a year.

I think that we will very soon see actual legislation, enacted by Congress and then by treaty, which actually does define the Internet as a "common carrier" and which imposes a duty to keep customer information private. At which time, yes, I think that many existing "free" services which rely on harvesting data will no longer be free. Or, rather, they will be paid-for by your internet subscription, as, long ago, "Cable Television" services such as HBO and MTV were. We have simply skated along for fifteen years or so without formally addressing these things.

And that would be bad for anybody who understands and accepts how free webmail workds. Indeed, I myself have a Google email account which I use when I have to create an account to see or do something on a site I otherwise couldn't give a hoot about. I'd rather have free-of-charge email available to use as throwaway addresses so I don't have to give the domain name I am not too much of a cheapskate to pay for out to all and sundry just to watch a video or read an article.

Really? How soon is "very soon"? Before the next election?

Back in the day, of you hired a plumber and he competed a full audit of all your private possessions complete with dossier on your behavior during the transaction, most Amerikans would likely had shot Mario... and righteously so!

The people drew the line at Google glassed though. But what if they were paid? Could be a new way to make scratch off the willing (stupid) here.

What if I lease really cheap bugesque electric cars super cheap due to all the cameras, mikes and various sensors inside and out with the information sold in every direction and used for "synergy" with the powers that be to get that VIP shine on all the permit processes and taxations. Perhaps this is what the first self-drivers will look like. Perhaps Ford is already selling a little to keep costs down.
A little mini-pooper for a hundred a month? Where do I sign? (they ask)

I think we've only just seen the beginning. I think "free" phones will be first if I hadda bet. What we've seen thus far is only just a proof of concept.

Combine this with reliable face recognition and AI searches and you've really got something.

Pity the young.


Just read a great story on RT about a Brit wifi provider adding cat-hugging, loo cleaning and more to their "agreement" and about 20000 people agreed. Lucky for them the company was just making a point. 1 person was said to have actually called them on it. Funny.