Title: Terms and Conditions May Apply
Country: United States of America
Language: English
Year: 2013
Cast:
- Blake Lawler
- John Palfrey
- Harvey Anderson
- Zeynep Tufekci
- Silva Vaidhyanathan
- Eli Pariser
- Debra Aho Williamson
- Danah Boyd
- Moby
- Sherry Turkle
- Rainey Reitman
- Chris Soghoian
- Michael Schearer
- Ryan Calo
- Ellen Corbett
- Barrett Brown
- Margaret Atwood
- Daniel Ellsberg
- Max Schrem
- Eric Schmidt
- Brian Kennish
- Christopher Shin
- Leigh Bryan
- Joe Lipari
- Vito Lapinta
- Timi Robertson
- Amy Cutler
- Chris Knight
- Doug Rushkoff
- Orson Scott Card
- Peter Schaar
- Chris Anderson
- Ray Kurzweil
- Frank Heidt
- Ondi Timoner
- Cullen Hoback
SYNOPSIS
A documentary that exposes what corporations and governments learn about people through Internet and cell phone usage, and what can be done about it ... if anything.
REVIEW
Terms And Conditions May Apply is a very interesting documentary about how people's personal and private information are compromised whenever they use the Internet, log in to social media networks, sign up for email accounts and online banking accounts, etc.
Moby: It's safe to work under the assumption that nothing's private. Everything that's been digitized is not private... and that's terrifying.
The film talks about how individuals indiscriminately allow companies and governments to gather and store personal and private information by not carefully reading these contracts before agreeing to it and signing 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?
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.
Narrator: And according to The Wall Street Journal, consumers lose $250 billion each year due to what's hidden in the fine print.
Narrator: ... It makes you wonder. What if there were more serious consequences that might result from not reading terms and conditions?
I know it's important to read documents and make sure you understand it before signing it because well, you should know what you are agreeing to basically. However, a lot of account providers (email accounts and social media network accounts) and service providers (mobile service and Internet service), and even applications have extremely long user agreements that you will need hundreds of hours just to make sense of everything.
Terms And Conditions May Apply points out how people's lack of concern about their privacy and personal information is really the root of the problem. If people are cautious, maybe they will be more aware that some companies are using their information in nefarious ways and they would take action against such injustice.
I think I'm more conscientious than the average person but I live in such a well-connected world that even though I'm very careful, someone I know sometimes inadvertently share my personal information to the whole world.
I wish everyone would always think twice when it comes to posting any information in their social media accounts as a rule of thumb. I want everyone to think about how whatever they publish online is going to be archived somehow some way, and whether they would really like to be associated with such a statement or such a photo their whole lives. I hope everyone will consider the potential worst-case scenario outcome of their actions, such as many different ways their opinions can be interpreted by other people.
I don't think it means there's something to hide if someone is using social media consciously and with reservations; from thoughtfully choosing what information to publish, to editing his statements to be as politically correct as possible, and to carefully selecting photos to be published. That's just being smart, I think.
The Terms And Conditions May Apply official site provides some privacy tools that you may use, as well as a link to find more ways to protect yourself and your information.
Sherry Turkle: Most relationships in your life, it's very good that the other person doesn't know everything you've ever said, or scribbled, or thought.
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Terms and Conditions May Apply
