TERMS AND CONDITIONS MAY APPLY (Cullen Hoback). 79 minutes. Opens Friday (August 2) at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. For times, see listings. Rating: NNN
Terms And Conditions May Apply will make you think twice the next time you click “I Agree” on a user agreement for your computer or mobile device.
You know the situation: you’re signing up for some free service (Gmail, Facebook, Instagram), but before you get it you have to scroll down paragraphs of legalese written in tiny font all-caps. Do you read it? Of course not.
According to Cullen Hoback’s well-researched doc, it’d take about 180 hours to peruse all that fine print each year. But as he and dozens of talking heads – lawyers, marketers, analysts and a couple of celebrities like writer Margaret Atwood and musician Moby – suggest, you’re signing away a lot of freedoms with that innocent little click.
We’re not just talking about the reams of consumer information gleaned from your browser history. In a post-9/11 society, Big Brother is a reality. Just ask the UK bloke who was heading to a U.S. vacation but got detained half a day at customs because he’d texted friends he was going to “destroy America” (i.e., party hard). Or the writer for the TV show Cold Case who googled terms like “wife killer,” “decapitation” and “car crash photos” while working on a script, only to find police knocking on his door.
Unfortunately, these illustrations come late in the documentary, as does a gonzo attempt by the filmmaker to capture Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in a private moment, which could have been a smart motif. Ironically, the dense and serious material can occasionally be heavy going, with no way to scroll down to the end.
