SoylentNews

canopic jug [soylentnews.org] writes:

There is a browser add-on which summarizes terms of service warnings for web sites requirining and all-or-nothing click-through to use their services. The add-on tosdr [tosdr.org] uses crowd-sourcing to digest scores of pages into short, concise sentences or paragraphs warning what is hidden exessively verbose legalese. The database has been around for years but has recently undergone a rejuvenation by becoming a wiki.

What if, before you consented, you could at least read the SparkNotes? That's the goal of ToSDR—short for Terms of Service; Didn’t Read—a website that turns lengthy terms of service agreements into bulleted summaries, and then rates those terms from Class A (very good) to Class F (very bad). It functions as a sort of Wikipedia for terms of service agreements. Anyone can submit a bullet point and share their analysis of a service's terms, which get turned into a rating of a site's overall policy. The site, which has existed since 2012 but is relaunching next month on a new platform, hopes to create a broad network of shared knowledge.

Unlike written contracts where it is easy to cross out offending paragraphs and clauses before both parties sign, these online forms are all-or-nothing. In some of the sites with larger network effects, such as Faecebook, that could even be construed as extortion.

Sources:
Wired : Welcome to the Wikipedia for Terms of Service Agreements [wired.com]
Boing Boing : Terms of Service; Didn't Read: a browser add-on that warns you about the terrible fine-print you're about to "agree" to [boingboing.net]

Original Submission