Thanks to the internet, there is a new business paradigm that is diluting our corporate moral values. It is a of combination of a "Winner Take All" and "Buyer Beware." For example, if you use AOL.COM, do you realize the "one-sidedness" of the contract?

AOL’s ("We") Terms (concisely, in plain language): You have agreed that,
We can change our Terms ANYTIME without notice.
Everything we post is our stuff.
You will receive everything we send you.
You will NOT share our stuff without permission.

We can do ANYTHING we want with your stuff.
We do NOT guarantee anything.
You will use AOL at your own risk.
You will defend us against ANY
lawsuit at your expense.
We may terminate your access for ANY reason without notice.

For your edification, below are plain language intrepretations next to actual excerpts from AOL's Terms dated 19 July 05; i.e., where the above quips came from:

"Welcome to AOL.COM, ... Hi (in plain language).
"YOUR AFFIRMATIVE ACT OF USING AOL.COM SIGNIFIES THAT YOU AGREE ... IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT USE AOL.COM. You agree with us, or, BUG OFF!
"We may change these Terms of Use at any time. ... You are responsible for checking these terms periodically ... We can change our Terms ANYTIME.
"You agree that we may provide to you ... information ... . If you want to withdraw your consent to receive notices electronically, you must discontinue your use of AOL.COM. You will receive all the stuff we send you, or, BUG OFF!
"Your ongoing use of AOL.COM signifies your consent to the information practices disclosed in our Privacy Policy. You agree with our privacy practices (which we can change at any time).
"We may discontinue or change any service or feature on AOL.COM at any time and without notice. You may be left "high and dry" without notice.
"You may use AOL.COM for lawful purposes only. Thou shalt not break the law!
"You may not use AOL.COM in any manner that could ... interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of AOL.COM. ... We may take any legal and technical remedies to prevent the violation of this provision and to enforce these Terms of Use. If we don’t like what you do, we may sue you or zap your computer with a technical "nasty."
"You may not use AOL.COM ... to transmit, directly or indirectly, any unsolicited bulk communications (including e-mails and instant messages). ... We may take any technical remedies to prevent ... You might be in trouble if you email more than two people with one email.
"We, our suppliers, and our users who lawfully post text, messages, information, software, images, audio and video ("Content") on AOL.COM own the property rights to that Content. Everything we do is ours!
"You may use AOL.COM and the Content offered on AOL.COM only for personal, non-commercial purposes. ... You may not ... reproduce, reprint, copy, store, publicly display, broadcast, transmit, modify, translate, port, publish, sublicense, assign, transfer, sell, loan, or otherwise distribute the Content without our prior written consent. You can use our stuff for your own use as long as you don't do anything, other than look at it, without our permission.
"You may only post Content to public areas on AOL.COM that you created or that you have permission to post. ... you grant us, our parent, affiliates, and distributors the right to use, copy, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You can only post your stuff. You agree that we can do anything we want with your stuff.
"You agree to fully comply with all import and export laws, regulations, rules and orders of the United States, or any foreign government agency or authority, ... You will comply with ALL laws, foreign and domestic.
"We provide AOL.COM “as is”, ... . WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT AOL.COM WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, IS ERROR-FREE, RELIABLE, ... AOL may or may not perform as expected, we do NOT GUARANTEE anything.
"WE, ... SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY ... CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF ... AOL.CO ... EVEN IF WE KNEW OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. You use AOL at your own risk.
"YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY OTHER DISPUTE WITH US IS TO DISCONTINUE YOUR USE OF AOL.COM. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR LIABILITY, OR THE LIABILITY OF OUR PARENT AND OUR SUPPLIERS FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE USE OF AOL.COM EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF SERVICE FEES THAT YOU PAID US DURING A ONE-YEAR PERIOD FOR THE SPECIFIC SERVICE AT ISSUE.

You seek redress? BUG OFF! If you can prove we lost one out of 3,650 emails and you have paid us $100.00 for the year, our maximum liability is $100/3,650, i.e., < 3¢.

"... you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless us and our parent and other affiliated companies, and our respective employees, contractors, officers, directors, and agents from all liabilities, claims, and expenses, including attorney's fees that arise from your use or misuse of AOL.COM. You will not blame us and you agree to defend us against any suit at your expense.
"You agree that the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia govern this contract and any claim or dispute that you may have against us, without regard to Virginia’s conflict of laws rules, and that the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall have no applicability. ... The Commonwealth of Virginia laws apply to this contract with us (and any dispute will be settled on "home ground").
"We also reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to terminate your access to all or part of AOL.COM, for any reason, with or without notice. We may dump you at any time.
REMEMBER: The fine print is there, NOT for your benefit.

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