New Web Service Demystifies the Fine Print

What’s the Latest Development?

For every app you install, for every website you join, odds are you are clicking “I agree” after being prompted to read the Terms of Service. And odds are the Terms of Service were too long or too hard to read for you to actually understand the terms you have agreed to. A new web service, Terms of Service; Didn’t Read or TOS;DR, hopes to change that. According to their website, their aim is to create “a transparent and peer-reviewed process to rate and analyze Terms of Service and Privacy Policies in order to create a rating from Class A to Class E.”

What’s the Big Idea?

What TOS;DR currently does is go through the TOS of major websites and apps, such as Twitter or Skype, and highlights areas with the greatest potential for abuse of privacy. As a result, long legalese-filled documents become easier to understand so that average consumers can know what they are agreeing to. While the website won’t officially launch until later this month, the group hopes to “educate users about the importance the agreements they enter into with web companies and, eventually, to track and influence changes to TOS.”

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