OK, so my challenge to readers last week to find a worse ToS (Terms of Service) than Dilbert.com's looks like it's going to be pretty easy. We've already got one very worthy candidate recently pointed out by a reader: Comcast's broadband subscriber agreement.
"In my area Comcast is my broadband provider of choice and recently I happened to read some of their By Ed Foster
There are plenty of other provisions in the subscriber agreement and the accompanying Acceptable Use Policy, which is also part of the ToS, that strike the reader as going too far. But what makes Comcast's even more ominous is our knowledge of some Comcast practices that lie behind the legalese. When the Comcast ToS says they have the right to terminate without notice and for any reason, we know that they mean it. And don't forget that when Comcast was caught red-handed deliberately slow P2P traffic, one of the first things they did was change the ToS to "clarify" that they had the right the cripple performance in the name of "reasonable network management."
"I just find the whole thing to be sinister," the reader wrote. I'd bet that if the average Comcast user were told that Comcast can turn over all of their emails, chats, browsing history, etc, without a court order, just on the request of 'authorities' or other ISPs, etc., they would be shocked. And if they were told that Comcast owns everything they type or upload as well, they'd be appalled."
Comcast's ToS is indeed pretty bad, but I bet you can find one that's even worse. When you do, tell us about by writing Foster@gripe2ed.com or post your comments below.
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