What+are+you+agreeing+to?

What are you agreeing to?

As a user you don't really have a choice. If you want to use a particular online service, you have to agree to its terms and conditions. The alternative is not to use the service.

Does it really matter? No one ever seems to hold us to account for something we've supposedly agreed to.

But, knowing what is in an online terms and conditions document is actually becoming more important, as we entrust more of our valuable data to online services. What happens if a website we have used to store important documents actually loses those files? Do we have any rights to claim compensation?

Now a **__new project called Terms of Service__**; Didn't Read (TOS:DR) is trying to make things slightly easier.

TOS:DR gives you more power by actually reading the terms and conditions of many popular websites for you, and stripping out all of the legal jargon to tell you the most important points of the contract.

It also rates the terms and conditions between A and E, with A being the most user friendly and E being the least. So far, the only site awarded an E is TwitPic, a site that lets you easily attach photos to Twitter postings, but which, if you read the small print, actually reserves the rights to sell those photos.

So, the next time you sign up for an online service, don't just click Yes to say you agree to the terms and conditions, or worse, actually spend hours trying to decipher them. Instead, head over to http://tos-dr.info/ and check through the list of rated services to find out exactly what you are signing up to.

//Check what you are signing up to on TOS:RD//