In June 2025, there has been quite some discussion about the new terms of use (TOS) of the social media site mastodon.social.
Something similar happened months ago with Mozilla/Firefox.
Rules are essentially a good thing.
They aim to provide clarity and security to all involved parties.
Both projects failed miserably in their respective attempts.
People with extensive knowledge of the subject have debated endlessly the pros and cons, as well as the possible consequences of the respective new TOS.
So much for clarity!
It might be that the new sets of rules provide a certain legal armour for the entities providing the respective services.
Maybe. Or not. Who knows?
In any case, they definitely don’t for the users of the products.
With 99%, I don’t think, I overestimate the percentage of users who have no clue what the new TOS mean for them and their data.
The most dire consequence of this uncertainty is that people involved in the projects and their users turn their backs towards them.
Even many, who don’t, lose their enthusiasm for their engagement.
Community projects are nothing without the passion of those involved.
Losing it, is a steep price for providing the involved entities with a supposed, though certainly not guaranteed, legal coverage.
I reckon, one of the main reasons for the insecurity such TOS creates, is the language used in them.
I speak English as a foreign language to a certain dgree (judge yourself) and I have a reasonable understanding of legal texts (at least in German).
And yet: This doesn’t help me one bit.
There are passages in the respective amounts of texts, I can’t decipher and am unable to judge their consequences.
I reckon, there is no such thing as informed consent if you are unable to understand what you are consenting to.
Actually, I wonder if such is a consent can be legally binding, even if it is given explicitly by clicking a box or implicitly by using a service.
The bar should be the intellectual and lingual capacity of a person with basic school education.
There are experts in simple/accessible language who could help with that.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to get some of them involved?
Meanwhile, the widespread controversy has put the implementation of the new TOS on hold until further notice. This shows one of the inherent strengths of the Fediverse: The community voice has weight. Apparently, some people brought forward some serious objections and were heard.
Sadly, the same can definitely not be said about Mozilla/Firefox.
Still, in my view, having announced the TOS in the previous way, showed an astonishing lack of understanding of how communities work.
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