The film Terms And Conditions May Apply examines the cost of so-called 'free' services and the continuing disappearance of online privacy.
This is an important and frightening film, talk about how Google, Amzaon, Facebook, Twitter and the other popular website harvest our personal information and use it to the highest bidder, or to the government. How we don't read the "Terms and conditions" before we click "Accept" - nobody could, it would take a month per year for everything we sign.
The film is entertaining, including how a seven year old boy was interrogated about something he had texted; how an Irishman on holiday in the US never got into the country but spent days in confinement instead, because he had used "destroy America" as a figure of speech in a tweet; how people planning a zombie parade during the Royal Wedding were arrested based on the social media planning; and how a TV crime writer was raided based on his Google searches.
Sometimes, user outcry has an impact, as when Instagram backpedaled last year on its decision to make available user photographs in advertisements without compensation. In response to their anger, the service quickly acted to change the wording of its terms of service contract.
If we do not paying attention, the degree to which our privacy has already been compromised — at least as outlined in “Terms and Conditions”. In any case, deleting our accounts doesn’t actually delete anything, as the film notes, it just hides our data from ourselves.
