In recent years, some companies have tried to make their contracts easier to read. Why? The Consumer Protection Act defines the right to plain and understandable language in consumer contracts.
Sometimes, companies even get it right. Recently I changed insurers, and the assessor took time to explain all the conditions in simple language. But I also listened to a consultant from the same company rattle off contract conditions over the phone faster than I could follow.
Plain language laws
This law is not unique to South Africa. The GDPR EU data regulations have similar provisions. Communications about data must be concise, intelligible, and use clear and plain language. And there are plenty of similar US laws. Pennsylvania, for example, has a law called the “Plain Language Consumer Contract Act”.
What about software licences?
But it seems the software industry doesn't know about this concept.
Many software license agreements need university education levels of reading ability in English. (There are real tests to check this - like the Flesch-Kincaid grade level.)
Some software companies have tried to make the language easier, but they have done nothing about the length. I read a recent BBC article about BBC article about the T&Cs of popular apps.
According to this article, the Microsoft Teams terms and conditions contain 18,282 words. That's about two-and-a-half hours of reading time for most people. When your company decided to use MS Teams, do you think anyone spent the time reading the terms?
All those apps that you use every day, including WhatsApp, have similar T&Cs. And, of course, you can't use the services without agreeing to the terms.
So no, I haven't read the terms and conditions. Have you?
What are your rights?
Contract conditions set out your rights and your obligations. An insurance contract, for example, explains what you can claim for and what you can't.
But software licences are different. They protect the software provider from almost all forms of liability - while severely limiting your right to how you use the software. In short, you don't actually have any rights under these contracts.
And here is another sad truth. Unlike engineers and doctors and lawyers, software developers are not held to a standard of care. There is no implied warranty about quality or security. We can only hope that privacy acts, like POPI Act, will actually have some teeth.
The role of ethics
This is why the ethics of software development are so important. Software ethics is not about theories with long names. It's about a professional standard of care. It's about the fact that we rely on software all day, every day.
I have decided to offer my coding ethics course as an online course: Ethics for the Software Engineer. It's available to preregister.