I was reading AOL's Terms of Service, or, as they call it: Terms of Use (which implies that I am using their software and am responsible for it; rather than they are responsible for my service.), and I feel like I just got raped.

Reading this article was painful to me... it appears AOL is not responsible for anything, not the connection quality, not the quality of the software, nor the quality of its preformance.

“THE AOL SERVICES AND SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS," "WITH ALL FAULTS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" FOR YOUR USE, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.”

So, no warranties about my software?

“NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY AOL OR AN AOL AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY"

Thanks, I feel really happy now. O, and if my software sucks, which it does? Too bad, I cannot do shit. What about if they jack up the prices and lower the connection speed:

"AOL may modify the AOL Terms of Service, change its fees and change its billing methods at any time. AOL will provide you with notice of any change in pricing or material changes to the Terms of Service at least thirty (30) days in advance. If you disagree with any proposed change, your sole remedy is to cancel your membership before such change takes effect."

Well, my only choice is to, you guessed it, get a better internet provider. And I love how elequent they phrase it:

"sole remedy" "cancel you membership" "effect".

What it should say is:

"...get a better internet provider before we screw you over."

I then went on to read:

"You agree that this Member Agreement is not intended to confer and does not confer any rights or remedies from AOL upon any person other than you. You also agree that the AOL Community Guidelines and other guidelines posted on AOL Services, including AOL's enforcement of those policies, are not intended to confer, and do not confer, any rights or remedies upon any person."

So, this statement really seems to contridict itself, while still giving me the feeling that the OWNZ me. Who do these terms apply to? ME. Who else? NOBODY.

So, how CAN I use this software?

"You may use any Content available on the AOL Services, but only for personal, non-commercial purposes... You may not use the Content in a manner that exceeds the rights granted for your use of the Content, which includes unauthorized copying or distribution of the Content or creating an unauthorized derivative work."

Fuck you, if I want to run a business off of AOL, I'll do so under my own discression. O, and if I want to infringe on copyright laws (which is what all those superfluous words mean), I'll do so.

I feel like throwing up after reading this atrocity that is: Terms of Use.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Sep 9 2007, 11:49 pm by A_of-s_t.

Keke, have you read SEN's?

Anyway, I would expect pretty much any ISP's ToS to read similarly. For the most part, it's generally unenforced nonsense unless you do something that attracts a lot of attention. AOL is pretty lame anyway. I don't know why you would want it, unless there's nothing else around you. If that's the case... I'm sorry.

The TOS is there so they can't be sued for tons and tons of reasons.

However, as Mini Moose said it's not enforced and most ISP's have similar ones. It's only enforced to the point you can't bring up a lawsuit and they loose millions of dollors. However you are a customer, but furthermore you're money. So if you look like a valuable investment, they will probably treat you with a lot of respect. Of course AOL doesn't exactly have that track record, but other ISP's do.

Pfft, nobody reads that stuff anyway

I agree. You need a life if you have the time to read terms of service/terms of use/end user license agreements.

lawl, AOL? I remember when I had that with dial-up.

I just had thirty minutes on my hands. I wouldn't call that extensive, as I read pretty fast and I made the post in 5 minutes. You need to get a life for reading my post which is probably longer then the TOS (actually its TOU -- Terms of Use) and then posting to it.