[OC] How long would it take to read the T&C and privacy policies for apps used in just one primary school classroom?

Posted by simonmelvery

5 comments

  1. We did a deep dive into the third-party online platforms used in some Australian primary schools. We manually compiled statistics about the terms and conditions that one school asks parents to read — more than 200,000 words — and visualised them both in the physical world and computationally as a comparison to the story itself and how long it would take to read them all. The progress datavis is done with javascript, no specific tool or library was used.

    [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-27/classroom-apps-technology-kids-data-terms-conditions/104966952](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-27/classroom-apps-technology-kids-data-terms-conditions/104966952)

  2. To be valid, consent must be free and informed, and I would argue that for most platforms and apps terms and conditions, it is neither.

  3. These documents between businesses and consumers should be considered not legally binding! It is unreasonable to expect a layperson to a) read pages upon pages of legalese and b) understand it.

  4. Great chart. I was watching TV on our Samsung SmartTV the other day when a pop-up blocked all usage showing new terms and conditions. It could not be dismissed, cleared, or delayed. It look 30 seconds of continuous scrolls (no reading, just repeated full page down scrolls of walls of text) to get to the bottom of a single agreement. There were 3 mandatory agreements to agree to before the pop-up would go away and we could continue watching TV. I’m sure much of that agreement was about our family becoming their product, not their customer.

  5. where is the beauty?? I thought this was data is beautiful.

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