Much of what concerned me regarding the T&Cs in my topic on CHOICE testing, privacy Privacy, Smart Devices, their T&Cs, CHOICE testing & reviews of them.
For the normal user the interest is to use the device and not spend hours with a law firm deciphering the code that these days are termed T&Cs. CHOICE however has vast experience with the way things are written to obscure intent.
Rod Sims even presses on that issue “Vague, long and complex data policies contribute to this substantial disconnect between how consumers think their data should be treated and how it is actually treated.
The fact digital platform users are not well informed about the collection and use of their data affects competition and consumer welfare.”
So not only is it the protections we need but we also need to first know what we need protecting against. I really do see a strong role for CHOICE in this area. As an example if during a product review some item/s in the T&Cs is/are too broad a capture of user data or even where the data may be used and or stored I think CHOICE could advise of those issues in the review. If needed even reduce the result based on those problems. Marking a product down because of these issues would hopefully send a strong message to the producers and would also warn potential users of the problems they may expose themselves to by using the product. Both are principles behind CHOICE reviews.
