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The fine print of contracts that nobody reads…

In technology, speed is considered the supreme virtue. So when someone is about to register on a website, it is absurd to assume that you are wasting time reading the terms of use. As usual, click on all the posters that say “OK,” and that is what God wants.

This neglect of users is no stranger to social networks like Face book, and Hi5 Sónico or other sites such as Blogger, MSN Messenger, Taringa!. Contractual terms which are used by no one looks to sell some ads. Others go further, including unfair terms.

One of the livelihoods of these networks is advertising. The sending of notices is agreed in the contracts that nobody reads. Most sites use the data to upload to Internet users when registering. And personalize the ads with them, their own or others who pay for this service.

But do not sell ads “broadcast.” The information that users put in their profiles, more comments expressing hostility or preferences, are attractive from a virtual file that is collected with the approval of the beneficiaries unwise. The sum of variables allows the site administrators to segment their audience by age, sex and educational level, and have precise information about their tastes, habits and relationships. And it guarantees its customers that are sending the advertising will reach the consumer provided.

Spinetto Martin, manager of Microsoft On line Services, warns that “we do not share the database with other companies. But if you sell audience. This implies that if a firm wants to target your campaign to a specific sector, Microsoft knows who to send it using your database. In the Privacy Center announces: “Microsoft will not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. Sometimes, as an aid to provide services, may provide data to other companies working on behalf of Microsoft.”

And if the terms are clear, Alberto Arébalos, director of Public Affairs, Google, explains the change of direction which was introduced in the web services. “The interest-based advertising, or advertising based on interest, is a mode that allows the consumer to choose the items you want to view, and if they’re not interested, select the option to not display any advertising on your site, details.

Thomas O’Farrell, Sonic, a social network similar to Face book’s own data according to amount 30 million users in Latin America, acknowledges that advertising is a method. But he added: “We are using new forms of revenue to sustain the network.”

Another issue is the use in the network are the users who upload content, which can lead to complaints about the unauthorized display of images (see A bad experience). And although not yet reported any cases of expropriation by one of these networks, what if someone is enshrined as a writer, musician or photographer? Who guarantees that the content is on the page will not be exploited by the owner of all rights? What, for example, the site wants to publish a book with the contents of a widely read blog? The contract of one of these social networks, My Space, reads: “To show or make known” publish “any Content on or through the My Space Services of, by this you grant My Space a limited license to use, modify , delete or add information, make publicly available, publicly display, reproduce and distribute such Content.

It is not the only case. The lawyer also prevents Leandro González Frea on standards prevailing in Hi5, another network that is home to 80 million cybernetics. “They require users to grant a license irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, to reproduce, distribute, publicly display, interpret, use the content in any way to incorporate it in other works, and grant or authorize sub licenses,” he explains.

Something similar happens with Taringa, one of the sites most visited by surfers from Argentina. González Frea analyzes “Taringa! Expressly assigned copyright in the work of classification and compilation made by any of their users, forcing them to transfer all the rights that may incur.” Among other materials, including photographs, designs, sounds and marks. O’Farrell, Sonic, explains that the purpose of these clauses is the legal protection of the site: “For example, if a user upload a photo of another, he can not sue for it.”

But do users have some sort of defense? González Frea suggests that these services are covered by the Consumer Protection Act. What is certain is that these are contracts of adhesion drafted unilaterally by the companies and do not lead users to negotiate the terms of inclusion. And if the user is in disagreement, not to be equivalent to the outside.