The Secret Vote That Could Wipe Away Consumer Rights

guest · May 22, 2019

The Secret Vote That Could Wipe Away Consumer Rights
May 20, 2019
https://prospect.org/article/secret-vote-could-wipe-away-consumer-rights

An obscure meeting of elite jurists in Washington could adopt a sweeping change to contract law on Tuesday, binding anyone visiting a website to that business’s terms and conditions, even if they never read them or knew they existed.
Those terms could include mandatory arbitration clauses to settle disputes, privacy policies involving the selling of personal data, and virtually anything else a business wanted to throw in. It could even allow companies to change those terms after the fact.

The short version is that consumers would not have to read any contract to be bound by its terms. As long as consumers had notice and a “reasonable opportunity to review” the terms, like through a link on a website, that would be enough. Consumers would not have to click on the link or even really know it’s there.

So while faced with a real problem—no consumer reads the contract—the authors find a solution that enshrines that lack of reading, with little or no broad protection besides. Under this standard, businesses would get to assume that consumers agreed to all their terms just by their presence.
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Engadget: Lawyers almost made 'click to accept TOS' boxes disappear forever

Could simply visiting a website bind you to its terms of service? Luckily, not in the near future.
If approved, the nearly 134-page Restatement Project would have opened the door for businesses to take data from unknowing consumers.

An ALI spokesman told Engadget in an email that the vote on the project has been pushed back to next year's annual meeting after the group ran out of time.
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Minimalist · May 22, 2019

I guess that for EU customers, GDPR rules will still have to be implemented on their websites?

mirimir · May 22, 2019

Minimalist said: ↑

I guess that for EU customers, GDPR rules will still have to be implemented on their websites?
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Yes, one would think.

And enforcing that BS in many places would not be so easy.

Especially if people kept their identities secret.

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