Do you click “AGREE” without reading privacy policy, terms of service, or other docs?

[retiredunder50]

I recently pushed back on a surgical center requiring me to create an account & enter in agreement with a 3rd party health records company. I have reservations about providing my personal & medical info to a 3rd party site that allows access to unknown & unidentified entities: “Deleted Company Name and its subcontractors, employees, affiliates, agents, or representatives may have access to your medical records and health information.” I have issues with a company that fails to identify the specific clients who will access my records. “Deleted Company Name may use your Patient Medical Data or Processed Data in connection with, or disclose your Patient Medical Data or Processed Data to, other Deleted Company Name clients.” Thankfully, the surgeon said he would not have given them the info either. I was able to get the surgery done without a digital account nor agreeing to release of records beyond local surgical staff.


For years, I have been logging in to Chase to pay a couple of credit cards. My attempted Login today was met with the hurdle of having to agree to the contents of a couple of documents before getting account access. The terms of service and digital service docs are a combined 137 PAGES!!! I refused to waste time on a semi-legalese novel and will pay via phone or mail. This stuff is getting ridiculous.

Do you read before clicking on AGREE?

 

[frayne]

I would venture a guess that 99.9% of people do not read these terms of service agreements before clicking OK.

 

[Car-Guy]

^^^^^^
I think your estimate is a little low.

 

[CardsFan]

Does anyone else find it ironic that the OP is in the same tiny print that most of the privacy policies are written in?

 

[retiredunder50]

well, I did cut & paste from one of those docs

 

[CardsFan]

well, I did cut & paste from one of those docs

That makes it even more appropriate.

To answer your question, I usually get about 3 sentences in and say "screw it". Some of the shorter ones I will peruse a little, but I have given in to the fact than anything I do on any connected device, is going into someones database and will be used against me, somehow.

 

[gamboolman]

FPNI

 

[donheff]

I think about it every time and recognize the implications. Same goes for software or just about any online service or system. If I want the service, software, convenience, whatever, I click away. I expect to get spam from those service partners, friends, and families, so I always signup with my spam email address, not my main personal and financial address. The signup address gets a lot of spam, but I am pretty good at skimming through it. For now.

Where I get paranoid is on download sites that have multiple giant download buttons confusingly looking like they lead to the jackpot but actually lead to other products and malicious popup purveyors. If I can puzzle out the real deal, I will click through. If not, I flee. A lot of free software providers rely on advertising funds from these "big button" parasites, but it is a PITA.

 

[braumeister]

When I was a technical writer, I wrote the documentation for custom software so there was rarely a need to include all that junk. But at one time I had to write the user manual for a commercial software product and it was very necessary. Boring as hell, but necessary.

There was a day when I had to update the user manual for a new release, and I knew there would be a followup release very soon with major changes, so I decided to have some fun for just this specific release, since it would quickly be superseded. Buried deep within the Terms & Conditions section, I put in things like "User agrees that excessive calls to customer support will require forfeiture of user's firstborn child" and a few similar things.

What I got a big kick out of was that it passed through the company's legal department without comment, so even the lawyers were oblivious to what they were requiring.

 

[sparky08]

I would venture a guess that 99.9% of people do not read these terms of service agreements before clicking OK.

Which makes me wonder how they would stand up in a court of law??

 

[retire48in2018]

What happens if you decline to sign?

At medical places and others - I’ve declined to sign and either they didn’t notice or didn’t care and still provided service. There was a bunch of forms, and I only signed those I understood and accepted.

When my DW went to Mayo - there were options to decline and it stated what consequences were. They had it together!! Generally, declining meant you had to hand carry your records from office to office, and you would not be able to participate in any experimental or future studies.

We declined all - as I did not want a miscellaneous 3rd party (or hacker) (or nosy government busybody) to have anything. Especially, as we are FIRE and in our early fifties. I don’t know what happens, if, ACA is replaced, changed, amended and “pre-existing” stuff comes back. Additionally, I’ve read that some places don’t have good ACA marketplaces and you still have to rely on private insurance marketplaces.

 

[MarieIG]

For optional type of websites - I don't agree / choose to the least invasive settings.

I have read the entire document for things like banks (and have worked myself into a fury by so doing).

 

[DJRR]

No. I assume, if it came to it, any particularly egregious terms would be unenforceable. I don't believe you can give away your rights if they commit gross negligence for example.

I am probably naive.

 

[twirler]

I recently pushed back on a surgical center requiring me to create an account & enter in agreement with a 3rd party health records company. I have reservations about providing my personal & medical info to a 3rd party site that allows access to unknown & unidentified entities: “Deleted Company Name and its subcontractors, employees, affiliates, agents, or representatives may have access to your medical records and health information.” I have issues with a company that fails to identify the specific clients who will access my records. “Deleted Company Name may use your Patient Medical Data or Processed Data in connection with, or disclose your Patient Medical Data or Processed Data to, other Deleted Company Name clients.” Thankfully, the surgeon said he would not have given them the info either. I was able to get the surgery done without a digital account nor agreeing to release of records beyond local surgical staff.


For years, I have been logging in to Chase to pay a couple of credit cards. My attempted Login today was met with the hurdle of having to agree to the contents of a couple of documents before getting account access. The terms of service and digital service docs are a combined 137 PAGES!!! I refused to waste time on a semi-legalese novel and will pay via phone or mail. This stuff is getting ridiculous.

Do you read before clicking on AGREE?

My favorite thing to do during contract negotiations for anything is to sit down with the person who is making me sign the contract, and read it line by line. I highlight anything that could even be remotely questionable. Then, I have my spouse reread it in front of them. after that we have open discussion in front of the third party(as if they are not even there) about anything in it that could even be remotely perceived as untoward. You want to waste my time... no, no, we will waste our lives together. This process makes them squirm. The only thing that's stopping a lot of contracts from being simpler is people trying to rob each other legally.

 

[rk911]

FPNI

?

 

[Sunset]

A lot of people don't know that when going for a procedure at a teaching hospital, they may be practiced on by various students while unconscious. Without giving consent for that specific practice.

The practice can be for things totally unrelated to the operation/procedure and includes anal exams, pelvic exams, etc... things that some/most folks would not agree to have done by 4 or 5 random strangers for practice.

If it weren't for possibly being in the small print, it would be considered assault if it happened without consent anywhere else.

 

[rk911]

I would venture a guess that 99.9% of people do not read these terms of service agreements before clicking OK.

Yup...that's me!

Seems like someone would create an app/software to scan these documents and summarize the salient points and/or issues that might involve a privacy concern.

 

[MuirWannabe]

?

I believe that’s First Post Nailed It

 

[Car-Guy]

Which makes me wonder how they would stand up in a court of law??

Depends on who you are or how much money you have, or both.

For me I "seldom" read them but I also don't click OK on anything that has my credit card or checking account number(s). For those that do, I'll at least skim them.

 

[rk911]

I believe that’s First Post Nailed It

ahhhh...danke shhoen

 

[mystang52]

I agree with the other replies.

 

[jollystomper]

There was a day when I had to update the user manual for a new release, and I knew there would be a followup release very soon with major changes, so I decided to have some fun for just this specific release, since it would quickly be superseded. Buried deep within the Terms & Conditions section, I put in things like "User agrees that excessive calls to customer support will require forfeiture of user's firstborn child" and a few similar things.

What I got a big kick out of was that it passed through the company's legal department without comment, so even the lawyers were oblivious to what they were requiring.

I had to do something similar once, for a technical services contract, and also put in something funny. I forget the exact wording but something along the lines of "for second level support, user agrees to mail a padded envelope full of U.S. small denomination unmarked bills to P.O. Box whatever".

The legal department did catch this, but at least the lawyer who called thought it was funny and thanked me for putting something different in all the stuff she had to review and making her laugh.

 

[jazz4cash]

I would venture a guess that 99.9% of people do not read these terms of service agreements before clicking OK.

Agree. We hooked up new TV to cable. There were several folders for TOS. Clicked on 1st folder…40 pages. DW refused to accept so we did not have access to many features until I went in while she was preoccupied and clicked ‘accept’ to all the terms.

At some point there will be a reckoning. The way it is now is not reasonable at all

 

[O2Bfree]

There was a day when I had to update the user manual for a new release, and I knew there would be a followup release very soon with major changes, so I decided to have some fun for just this specific release, since it would quickly be superseded. Buried deep within the Terms & Conditions section, I put in things like "User agrees that excessive calls to customer support will require forfeiture of user's firstborn child" and a few similar things.

What I got a big kick out of was that it passed through the company's legal department without comment, so even the lawyers were oblivious to what they were requiring.

I did the same thing as a tech writer, put goofy statements into drafts for the engineers, such as "Do not read if safety seal is broken. Do not read while driving or operating heavy machinery." It was in the front matter, and yep everyone skipped that part.

 

[badatmath]

Depending on the need for the site if it looks crazy complicated I might just abandon it and not use the service.