As discussed briefly in the last post people are starting to realise that they could be signing up for a lot more than they originally anticipated. Terms and conditions are a fundamental part of the process of signing up to anything and it is perfectly acceptable for company’s to use them to legally protect themselves from anything that could go wrong.
Do you ever read the whole thing?
If you do read all of every set of terms and conditions I commend you because the documents are 30+ pages of horrible legal jargon and the rest seem irrelevant. On the most part this may be true but recently due to advances in mobile and Internet technologies there is a lot more at risk. Location services on an iPhone for example can be necessary to particular apps but most do not require it for functionality and yet their are many cases where free apps make revenue through hidden small print in the terms and conditions you agree to when you open the app including your location. Apple themselves are prolific for their terms and conditions adding one subtle invasion of privacy every update for years and it is at a point now where apple may as well own you as they have the capability to know anything they want about you.
This is one of the main problems when it comes to keeping your data private. Big companies have the public so hooked on there programs, websites, products and games that no matter what the terms and conditions say they will accept just to continue to use that particular thing. What the companies are doing is completely legal and its this that courses the most concern. By agreeing to those terms you are signing a form of legal contract and people really must become aware that although it could be harmless clauses it could also be signing away your personal data to be used and sold.
Its not all doom and gloom after a number of cases of main stream media people are starting to become more and more aware of these methods and apple now have a close eye on any changes they make. Others in the spotlight include Facebook, Instagram and other big social networking sites who have all previously been called up on some of their terms and conditions. Ultimately there might be a silver lining to this situation as long as the media and the public keep an eye on any changes made to the agreements the companies will be forced to stop this breech of privacy.
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