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FiestaBeans t1_izfinzl wrote

It's a joke at this point: "Well, pretty sure I just sacrificed our firstborn child, but we're all set up with cable now, babe."

These TOS should be illegal. It's impossible to read, a great deal of it seems legally dubious, and it's outrageous that I should be asked to give up my basic rights as a consumer in order to use a service that is required for my participation in society. In my state, without Internet, it's difficult to update voter registration, get a driver's license, register for school, etc.

And yet, the companies we have to sign up with to get Internet can demand pretty much any contract they want.

I'm glad someone is studying the implications and I hope it is reflected in future public policy.

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TorsionDifferential t1_izfkq9h wrote

Those TOS are often unenforceable. Company doesn't lose anything by 'making' you read and agree to one, so what the hell.

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FiestaBeans t1_izjgou3 wrote

The company won't win a lawsuit most likely, but for the vast majority of these, the people on the other end do not have the resources to bring it to court or to fight it.

And they can use the TOS to harass the user into not leaving the contract, or to levy fines or fess which the user doesn't have resources to fight in court.

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KingfisherDays t1_izfnu6l wrote

They are illegal in the sense that courts won't enforce them. So while we should be careful, there no need to worry too much about them imo. Even things like mandatory arbitration gets regulated, though it varies by state.

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Gorstag t1_izh53t4 wrote

Considering I'm probably around half the age of the person in the picture and I read "Kentucky" instead of Kidney. I was less surprised by Kentucky.

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