Terms and Conditions May Apply is a documentary with the goal of showing the uncomfortable alliance between corporations that primarily do business online and the government. These corporations give their users/customers’ information to the government. These businesses are absolved of any liability because of the terms and conditions that everyone agrees to, but no one reads.
Even though Terms and Conditions May Apply seems to be well structured, I left the film with vague impressions as opposed to solid ideas. Terms and Conditions May Apply uses really weak examples. A guy visiting from another country jokes in a Tweet to a friend that he is going to destroy America then is dismayed that he is turned away at customs. Obviously HE is not a terrorist. Why? He is not brown or does not belong to a certain religious group. If he did do something, there would be a documentary about how the government completely failed to follow up on a threat that anyone could discover in the public forum.
Terms and Conditions May Apply uses a lot of examples of white men who are comedians, TV crime writers or just ordinary people who are interrogated by the government like criminals. I’m not saying that these people are wrong to feel shocked, but I am saying welcome to everyone else’s reality where you are assumed suspicious and are subject to being detained or interrogated at any time for any reason by anyone until you prove yourself.
Terms and Conditions May Apply is a preach to the choir documentary so if you choose to watch it, you probably already agree with its premise. Even as viewer who is a part of that choir, I found myself easily making reasonable opposing arguments, which ultimately means Terms and Conditions May Apply failed. When it violates one famously successful entrepreneur’s privacy, I thought two things. First, did he sue you? Second, you’re proving that violating someone’s privacy is wrong by violating someone’s privacy. This gimmicky scene from Terms and Conditions May Apply shows that such violations are an innate part of human nature as opposed to some grand collusion.
Terms and Conditions May Apply uses a lot of cultural assumptions and tabloid reporting techniques to spark its audience’s outrage. Unfortunately while these scenes may keep the viewers’ attention, they ultimately undercut Terms and Conditions May Apply’s valid point. Businesses may be overreaching in its relationships with its customers, and government may need to address instead of exploit this dynamic.