Do you always read the "terms and conditions" before signing up for freebies?

United States
September 7, 2007 6:21am CST
Have you ever accidentally agreed to have something installed on your computer just by completing a free download, because you didn't read the terms and conditions of the site? What's the strangest thing that has ever downloaded onto your computer? Today I was trying to sign up for a free download and the form made me check a box that said I had read the terms and conditions and agreed to them. That stopped me in my tracks. First off, what type of terms and conditions could possibly be required to download some insignificant freebie. It sounded fishy to me, so I just clicked away from the site. It's not the first time that I've almost signed up for something hazardous. Once while I was trying to download a program, I skimmed over the terms and conditions and it said that I was giving them permission to download and install their tool bar/browser search helper that would "assist" me with shopping, by showing pop-ups. Just what I need! More annoying pop-ups. Needless to say, I didn't go for that gem either. How are you supposed to protect yourself from unscrupulous websites that hide these terms in fine print? It's just outrageous, don't you think. They offer you some worthless freebie and then get your permission to download all kinds of spy ware junk, just because you clicked the "terms and conditions" box during installation.
2 people like this
6 responses
• Romania
7 Sep 07
Heh. I almost never read the Terms and Conditions of any website. I know this is not good, this is a mistake, but I haven't the time or the required patient to do this...
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Sep 07
You know, the same is true for me! And I feel like an idiot for doing so because my inbox is always filled with spam. If I spend a minute in my inbox reading my emails, I go back to the start page and find that I have gotten anywhere from 2 - 20 emails in the span of a minute or two - and I'm not kidding about that one!
@amitavroy (4819)
• India
7 Sep 07
well my friend generally I do not reach such conditionsbecause I don't have such patience to read the whole stuff. I generally signed up to Web sites which are good. They have a good recognition from Gogol and if I find that a site is not trying that much and I had to register the December good reason that I generally use my other e-mail address to sign up so that they don't get my details and cannot get me into trouble. It is very important because nowadays there are a lot of incidents of scams on the websites and Internet services one good way of keeping away from the.
1 person likes this
@ssh123 (31073)
• India
7 Sep 07
Freebies generally not applicable to most asian and african countries as a part of mnarketing strategy. Hence I generally do not read the rules and do not go through those sites.
1 person likes this
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
26 Sep 07
I do check! I almost signed up for an offer once to get money on one site- I had to download something into my computer—it would tell the sites I surfed—No thanks! Freebies and extra money aren’t worth that! Privacy is already hard to get online… why would I let them watch where I went- talk about a NO Way! I don’t usually sign up for freebies that you have to agree to their terms….
@youless (112481)
• Guangzhou, China
27 Sep 07
Most of the time I won't read it carefully. I just pay attention what benefits I will get. As to the terms and conditions, probably I will just glance at it.
• India
8 Sep 07
No i dt read ever in my life becoz it took so much time to read and there was some rules which we cant accept so that i always neglet that....