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A case for (and against) lawyers using plain English instead of legalese

Niharika (@Lawbertarian) tweeted: "This ❤️ A lawyer rewrote Instagram's terms of use 'in plain English' so kids would know their privacy rights"

A lawyer rewrote Instagram’s terms of use ‘in plain English’ so kids would know their privacy rights

“‘Terms and conditions’ is one of the first things you agree to when you come upon a site,” Jenny Afia, a privacy lawyer and partner at Schillings law firm in London, told The Washington Post. “But of course no one reads them. I mean, most adults don’t read them.”

Afia was a member of a “Growing Up Digital” task force group convened by the Children’s Commissioner for England to study Internet use among teens and the concerns children might face as they grow up in the digital age.

...

One reason for this became apparent when the task force asked a group of teenagers to read and interpret Instagram’s terms and conditions. Many of them balked at the exercise: Instagram’s terms of use in total run at least seven printed pages, with more than 5,000 words, mostly written in legalese.

...

Other complex paragraphs were similarly condensed to sentences that were easier to digest:

  • “Don’t bully anyone or post anything horrible about people.”
  • “Officially you own any original pictures and videos you post, but we are allowed to use them, and we can let others use them as well, anywhere around the world. Other people might pay us to use them and we will not pay you for that.”
  • “Although you are responsible for the information you put on Instagram, we may keep, use and share your personal information with companies connected with Instagram. This information includes your name, email address, school, where you live, pictures, phone number, your likes and dislikes, where you go, who your friends are, how often you use Instagram, and any other personal information we find such as your birthday or who you are chatting with, including in private messages (DMs).”

Keep reading at Washington Post (32 more paragraphs) | Desktop version

On the other hand, too much plain speaking could also be bad for a client, it appears:

At least one teenager quoted in the report said he would take privacy matters into his own hands, however, after going through the exercise. “I’m deleting Instagram,” 13-year-old Alex said, “because it’s weird.”

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