Incomprehensible terms force users into uninformed agreement

Evidence

Such blanket and overreaching clauses—which are standard in the social quantification sector—are not only legally dubious but as full of hubris as the Requerimiento was. Companies reserve the right to modify agreements at any time, and users are expected to preemptively agree to any changes, no matter when and how often they are implemented. Because the language is so incomprehensible, most users simply scroll to the bottom of the document and click the “I agree” button without so much as a quick glance. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 310

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘scroll and agree’ behavior connects to behavioral-economics accounts of dark patterns and fabricated-choice architectures. — connects to: Terms-of-service agreements bind users to contracts they never read — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 150; Uncoerced agreement requires speech acts backed by criticizable validity claims — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 385; Military recruiters misrepresent contract terms to pressure enlistment — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 196 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Terms-of-service agreements bind users to contracts they never read #expands (0.92) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 150
• Click-wrap contracts function as a unilateral private seizure of user rights #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 151
• Uncoerced agreement requires speech acts backed by criticizable validity claims #qualifies (0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 385
• Military recruiters misrepresent contract terms to pressure enlistment #exemplifies (0.72) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 196