Terms and Conditions May Apply

---

cold feet and a tie

rise to the occasion

a million tiny flashlights

I gotta turn it off

cold feet and a tie

rise to the occasion

a million tiny flashlights

I gotta turn it off

for a while

I'll keep my place

but tonight

I'll stay so late

oh sleep for a while

too much conversation

too much information

I gotta turn it off

oh sleep for a while

too much conversation

too much information

I gotta turn it off

for a while

I'll keep my place

and tonight

I'll stay so late

and here we are

gotta turn it off

gotta turn it off

gotta turn it--

[narrator] just about

every time we use the internet,

A communication link,

or an app,

We agree to some very long

terms and conditions.

But what exactly

are we agreeing to?

You guys!

You gotta help me.

These business-casual g-men

are trying to kidnap me!

What?

It's crazy, dude!

They're saying it's

because I agreed to the latest

terms and conditions on itunes!

Why? What did the

terms and conditions

for the last update say?

I don't know!

I didn't read them!

You didn't read them?

Who the hell reads

that entire thing

every time it pops up?

I do.

Can you tell--

Can apple tell how many

people actually read it?

Well, they have to say

that they agree.

We can't know for sure

if they've read--

We try to make it in plain

english and very short.

If I were trying to make

a user agreement uninviting,

I would choose a small font,

A sans serif font, and

I would set it in all caps.

Because what happens then

is that you have type

That becomes a texture

rather than words and spaces.

No one has read

the terms and conditions,

No one in the world.

No one. Even the lawyers who

wrote it wrote it like this.

[laughter]

You come to a website

and they have a set of rules

Usually described in

a terms of services,

And then they have

a privacy policy.

And as soon as you

start using the service,

In essence, you have agreed

to the terms of service

and the privacy policy.

Do these terms and conditions

that we sign up for even apply?

They do. I think

if they didn't apply,

I think the web

would topple over.

And so, to the extent there

have been contract decisions,

They've held that these terms

and conditions are valid.

[narrator] and this concept

is pretty new.

For instance, you never

had to sign a user agreement

For an old-fashioned

land line,

Or to watch tv,

or to read a book.

But if you use

a smart phone, a kindle,

Or you watch hulu,

then you do.

Violet baby,

don't you sign

anything there!

What's this

all about?

Standard form

of contract.

Don't talk to me

about contracts, wonka.

I use them myself.

They're strictly

for suckers.

Yes, but you wouldn't

begrudge me a little

protection.

[narrator] in fact, if you

were to read everything

you agreed to,

It would take one full month

of work out of every year.

That's 180 hours you'd need

to spend every year.

And according to

"the wall street journal,"

Consumers lose $250 billion

Each year due to what's

hidden in fine print.

Here's an example

from linkedin's terms.

You grant linkedin

a nonexclusive,

Irrevocable, worldwide,

perpetual, unlimited,

Assignable, sublicenseable,

fully paid-up

And royalty-free right

to us to copy,

Prepare derivative works of,

improve, distribute, publish,

Remove, retain, add, process,

analyze, use and commercialize,

In any way now known or

in the future discovered,

Any information you provide,

directly or indirectly

To linkedin, including, but not

limited to, any user-generated

content,

Ideas, concepts, techniques

or data to the services,

You submit to linked in,

without any further consent,

Notice and/or compensation

to you or to any third parties.

[narrator] so linkedin takes

pretty much everything forever.

You'll find this kind

of language in google,

pinterest, facebook--

Pretty much anything

that people consider free.

Instagram is finding

that pictures are worth

Much more than

a thousand angry words,

After the company updated

its user agreement to say

It would have the right

to sell posted photos

Without compensation

for use in advertising.

[narrator]

and even if you are paying,

Companies have the ability

To make you accept

just about whatever they please.

In 2009, gestation,

Company in the u.K.,

Put some pretty sneaky

stuff their terms.

They didn't take mon,

or your firstborn child.

But for one day,

their terms stated:

By pcing an order

via th website,

You agree to grant us

a non-transferable

option to claim,

Now and forer more,

your immortal soul.

The contract was

only live for a day,

But gamestation happened

to rake in the lives of

7,000 immortal souls.

This was of course a joke.

However, it makes you wonder.

What if there were

more serious consequences

That might result from not

reading terms and conditions?

What if your phone came with

these long terms and conditions

That said, well, if you use

the phone the government can

wiretap you.

That would be insane.

But that's the kind of

world we're living in.

[narrator] a world where

the government can wiretap you

Because of terms

and conditions?

So if you look at

the iphone user agreement,

Wiretapping isn't mentioned.

But in at&t's privacy policy,

They say that they can use

data to investigate, prevent,

Or take action regarding

illegal activities.

Prevent?

you'll love the stuff

we're made of, pizza hut!

[narrator] in 1994,

Pizza hut became

the first major chain

To accept a delivery online.

Suddenly the internet needed

a way to remember who you were,

Where you lived, and how

you were going to pay.

My question is,

what the hell?

Like, how do they

know who you are?

Yeah.

Okay, there are

these things called cookies,

Where, like, if you go

to a site and buy something,

It will remember you

and then create ads

for other stuff

You might want to buy.

So it learns

information about me.

Seems like an

invasion of privacy.

[narrator] it wasn't

until the late '90s

That companies began

voluntarily adding

privacy policies

To explain what was happening

with this data.

Then, in 2000, an online company

called toysmart went bankrupt.

But they had an idea.

They tried to sell

their database

Of 195,000 users

to another company.

This included names,

billing information,

Shopping preferences,

and family profiles,

Even though their privacy policy

said they would never share

information.

People felt like

they were being duped.

[man] lawmakers tell you

time and time again

That every time they

go back to their district,

People are telling them

that they want

Some internet privacy laws.

They want some protection.

[narrator] in early 2001,

Over a dozen bills were

introduced in congress

To protect privacy online.

[george w. Bush]

these acts of mass murder

Were intended to frighten our

nation into chaos and retreat.

But they have failed.

[narrator] all of

the privacy legislation

was killed or abandoned,

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