Slashdot: UK Wifi Provider Tricks Customers Into Agreeing To Clean Sewers

UK Wifi Provider Tricks Customers Into Agreeing To Clean Sewers
Published on July 15, 2017 at 06:38PM
An anonymous reader quotes UPI:
Unwitting customers in the United Kingdom who didn’t read the terms and conditions for use of a public WiFi hotspot agreed to perform 1,000 hours of community service, including unclogging sewers and scraping gum off the street. The gag was conceived by WiFi provider Purple. The company inserted the clause into its terms and conditions — the technically legally binding agreement consumers approve in exchange for use of free Internet, though virtually few actually read the terms. The company said it did so to call attention to the fact consumers are regularly agreeing to terms that they may not actually like, including granting access to private information and data about their web browsing habits.

Other community service tasks agreed to by users included “providing hugs to stray cats and dogs” and “painting snail shells to brighten up their existence.” The agreement also promised a prize to anyone who actually became aware of the prize’s existences after reading the terms and conditions — yet after two weeks only one person came forward to claim the prize.