Where are the Fraud Police?
Many people want new laws, legislation, etc., but if these programs are truly deceptive then the companies involved are committing a very straightforward criminal and civil violation called fraud. A big part of them problem, at least in the US, is that the court systems have veered sharply away from the most basic premise of contract theory: the notion that the parties involved must have a "meeting of the minds" in order to form a valid agreement (as a practical matter, quite a bit of legalese - much of it boilerplate - is necessary to prevent one side or another from abusing the more straightforward terms and conditions and this can be somewhat complicated to read). This means that both sides must grasp the materially meaningful parts of an agreement, if not every contractual nuance. By allowing the side providing an agreement to bury terms in 80 pages of dense legalese often vaguely linked to other agreements (with possibly contradictory terms), the government courts have turned the very notion of a contractual relationship on its head. The formation of the agreement is completely and totally one-sided, and companies like Facebook and Google (along with plenty more, I'm sure) are abusing the shit out of it.
That we need a third-party like Apple to step in and more or less have its own umbrella of protection (quite imperfect as it is) shows the futility of the legislative and legal systems' ability to address this. I would prefer to see organizations like the ACLU and / or the EFF start looking into abusive EULAs and other agreements for abuse potential, violations, etc.
Disclaimer: I Am Not A Lawyer, but I've helped design some of these huge agreements and I've always done my best to be clear, open, and fair when doing it. But unfortunately not everyone shares my values.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
