I was wondering about those “Terms Of Use” agreements you always have to agree to when you register with a web service or install a piece of software. Does anyone actually read these things? They’re long and full of the same old legalese, and I’ll bet most people do like I do and just click “AGREE” without more than a cursory glance.
Then I thought…what if someone were to take advantage of that fact? For example, let’s say I set up a message board similar to the SDMB, and buried in the Terms Of Service I insert a cleverly hidden line that says, “By agreeing to these terms, you will be required to give 10% of your annual income to Jeremy’s Evil Twin for the rest of your life.” Would something like that be legally enforceable?
I doubt it…with a good lawyer you could argue that you didn’t sign anything. IANAL, but I don’t think that seruptitious (sp?) language like your example is enforceable. It sounds too similar to servers on a Service to Remain Unnamed that have ‘Terms of Use’ equivalent to “all persons must be at least 150 years old to enter this site.” How can they be enforced? Sorry, I’m tired and rambling, so I’ll just shut up now.
This problem is why software designers are investigating ways to “force” people to read the disclaimers (so that they cannot plead ignorance). Some methods I’ve heard of include putting the “OK” button inside the scrolling window at the bottom; putting a time limited warning (i.e. “You have not had sufficient time to read the disclaimer” if you click straight away), enabling the “OK” button only after the slider has moved at a certain speed and so on.