lurker":2dhu0bpc said:
I was reading in the paper last week..........
As an experiment, someone offered a free hot spot in London, buried in the usual seven pages of terms and conditions they had inserted "by agreeing to using this product, we reserve the right to acquire your first born and/or family pet" .
100s signed up, which proves we don't read to T&Cs , nor consider what we are signing up for.
haha brilliant - but it's already been proven several times that T&C's and EULA's that contravene law can't be upheld in court.
Companies that offer digital download copies of software - programs, games or whatever are especially guilty of having T&C's that cannot be legally upheld, yet still apply them in the hope the customer doesn't know that, and just assumes that the company in question is abiding by the laws of that country.
Steam the games provider has had it's T&C's overturned on thousands of occasions, but afaik, they've not changed them, because many more still accept thier word that it's legally binding. Just to put it into context Steam have a "2 hour refund window" - for any game purchased, after 2 hours if you've not asked for a refund, you won't get one after that - at least those that don't know the law won't get one; but challenge them with a specifically worded email and the refund will be given.
As far as facebook and the rest are concerned, to be honest most peoples lives are so dull, harvesting thier data won't amount to anything, so on the few occasions FB and other such media outlets has led to arrests for cyberbullying, posting your plans to kill your teacher (wow what a *******) or idiot terrorists planning stuff or other subversive activities - these sorts of sites have been a help.
Some people love to brag, they just can't help themselves - even when the activity is illegal - so I say let them, then we (the law abiding society members) know who they are and we can do something about it.
Plus trying to go "off the grid" is almost impossible nowadays anyway.
It's the same argument I use to people who complain an ID card or whatever is intrusive - "if you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem?"
I'm not going all 1984, but by far the largest reason why we have the world society that we do is because people have too much freedom and not enough societal controls. The freedom to have more money than the GPD's of some small countires, yet also the freedom to allow children to be bombed, or strve to death or die of diseases that don't exist in most other countries....
Sorry I'll stop, but you get my point - if data harvesting from these sites is the worst that happens to you - well you should be count yourself lucky.
Everyone with even a modicum of sense knows how a non damaging society should be, problem is - almost no-one wants to live there, while expecting to partake of it's benefits as a "human right".
It's beyond ridiculous, humans have got to be the the least intelligent species on the planet.
Edit - yes I understand the dangers of data manipulation, and how the easily led can be influenced, but I ask you, now that the internet is here, how do you plan to stop it? Humanity will always use whatever tools it can to manipulate the wider population for it's own gain at the expense of others, we've just got better at it - all these media outlets are just different flavors of advertising (which btw is another form of manipulation), and no-ones been having a fit about that for the last 200 or so years it's been going on. Every single "choice" you have ever made has had someone elses influence in it - I don't mean the obvious familial / work etc / I mean someone on the other side of the world has influenced your criteria for making an "informed choice". Freedom of choice is an illusion, and has been since the invention of "civilization" 10,000 years ago.
I just wish more people understood this. I just shake my head when I read about the outcry against FB and cambridge analytica and all the "how dare they's" like this is something new.
THIS is the "bigger picture" you've all heard about and the destination of this particular train isn't anyplace good.
