you may be giving away valuable rights
when registering at websites

Most of the services we enjoy from Web2.0 companies are offered “FREE” of charge. Friendly reminder here….NOTHING’S FREE!! The cost for free services may be hidden, but ultimately each User pays for the services in some way.

Users have for the most part stopped reading the Terms and Conditions to which they agree when they register at free Web2.0 sites. Many Users have NEVER reviewed the Terms and Conditions, but in their defense, the deals early on were pretty fair. Google swore they’d do no evil and began rolling out service after service - for FREE!

I appreciate what Google’s founders were attempting to do when they pledged to do no evil. Ironically however, because ‘do no evil’ was characterized as a standard by which to act, and not as an ideal towards which to strive, people came to count on it. Users quickly viewed it as the norm for Google and other web companies.

Users were happy to let Google use their data to improve search results, to filter spam, and whatever else Google might do under the terms of the User Agreements. For a short while it even seemed that Google’s duty to investors was aligned with its sense of responsibility to its Users and its interest in doing no evil. Eventually however, Google was forced act in keeping with its duty to investors and short term profitability.

Users were now responsible for themselves, and some began to chant the chorus of ‘evil’ one hears reverberating still today. Most Users were unaware of these goings on however, focused on figuring out how to navigate the internet and manage the information to which they now had access. These Users failed to note that Google was no longer looking out for them. They were now responsible for themselves. Many are today still unaware that the companies offering web services do not operate by the Google slogan, not even Google.

In General: Companies will do anything that’s legal to make a dollar.

I recently wrote about a web2.0 service, Earfl.com. I’m not creating a link to the site because I refuse to send them traffic. If you’ve used Earfl, or you want to know the story, read From Users’ Lips to Earfl’s Wallet. Earfl’s onerous User Agreements and policies illustrate a strategy that will become more prevalent, so long as Users continue to “Click to Agree.” Most still think they’re getting it for free.

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