ABSTRACT
When first accessing a website or online service, users are confronted with terms of service and privacy policies. These terms and policies are adhesion contracts which the user must accept to use the website or service. Virtually all users simply click ‘I agree’ without reading the terms of these contracts. The law construes this as consent based on whether a ‘reasonable person’ would understand that the click constitutes assent to those terms and policies. But studies show that various psychological factors such as obedience of authority can play a role in ill-informed acceptance of such contracts. This article argues that the law should take such psychological factors into account and suggests a framework for doing so.
Daniel D Haun and Eric P Robinson, Do You Agree?: The Psychology and Legalities of Assent to Clickwrap Agreements, 28 Richmond Journal of Law and Technology 623 (2024).
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