Face it we’ve all been there. We sign up for a new social media site, maybe even filled out a job application or applied for a contest online and there comes that little box at the end. The terms and conditions are right there; sometimes you have to at least scroll down before you sign but most times you can easily just check that box saying that you read it and go about your day. But are we actually considering just exactly are in those terms and conditions and what rights we are giving away?

The tricky thing about the terms and conditions is that more often than not, we are consenting tho things we should probably know about. According to this article on Thrillist; some of the most popular sites have hidden clauses in their terms. For example, ITunes states that you do not actually own any of the music you buy and sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook own rights to the content you post.

Source: CanStockPhoto.com

In the documentary “Terms and Conditions may Apply” I was intrigued by all the facts that I learned before that I never even considered. One thing I was shocked to hear is that if the average person actually read the terms and conditions they agreed to over a year it would take approximately a month to read. Could you imagine spending a month reading the terms and conditions for everything you agree to online? This makes it seem that they make these documents univiting to the average reader on purpose, because they are including things they do not everyone to be aware of.

Another fact I discovered was that phone companies have assisted the government in the past with wiretapping. This has always been a big controversy because many people are opposed to the idea of wiretapping in general. They see it as an invasion of your constitutional rights to have the government giving access to your private conversations. Before this documentary I assumed the government was able to access this information on their own. Now I understand that when we sign up for these phone plans and with these companies the terms and conditions most likely include that they they will possibly give up our information and we have already consented.

Shockingly, media sites like Facebook actually has bigger data files on people than any government agency. While the government has to research and build cases on people they seek out, Facebook on the other hand have people eagerly signing up to provide information to them for free. Facebook also changed their policies so that even if you delete information or your profile they will store your information FOREVER.

Questions:

Do you believe we should be compensated for our social media posts and profiles? If so, to what degree or level?

Wiretapping plays a huge part in this debate because people believe it is a violation of our privacy and/or rights/ Do you agree or disagree with the concept that “if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t be worried”?