[paulmd]

In general the problem is not that the documents are not readable or comprehensible - I understand perfectly well that in legalese it says that the situation will favor the business in every possible legal fashion and if some of those are not legal the remaining document will favor the business in every remaining possible fashion.

The problem is they are contracts of adhesion that consumers don’t have a real interest or consideration in, other than the performance being conditioned upon your agreement, and which they do not have any ability to debate or modify or generally any recourse except to go to another business with an equally odious contract as a condition of performance.

They’re not incomprehensible, they’re unconscionable, and solutions tackling the former are missing the point.

The problem is that the same “lobbying” that produced the regulatory environment permitting such contracts to be forced upon consumers also precludes any real attempt to tackle the latter. Businesses would scream here if you forced them to follow standard consumer protections, and our system is oriented to favor their interests over consumers in nearly every possible scenario as well.

Another “continental” solution to this would simply be to outlaw contracts of adhesion or contracts in which the consumer does not receive a consideration (other than performance of the contract). If you don’t have a consideration it’s simply not a valid or consciencable contract, people don’t agree to give up money or rights voluntarily in return for nothing, therefore these contracts must facially be coercive.