That LA times "read this article and you are bound to our terms of service" thing violates an informal, but important aspect:
This is *not* a clearly accepted-by-you license. This is kind of a half-way station on the way between the LA times not saying anything (but asserting you are bound to the license) and a full click through license (which is a much stronger argument that you actually mentally understood and agreed.)
A click-through license has the "accept" trigger next to the actual license text - that's why a lot of 'em put the button at the end and you have to scroll through the whole thing.
Eric Goldman at Univ Santa Clara has articulated this stuff far better than I could.
Eric Goldman (npub1cta…6kt3)
Karl Auerbach
npub1rh…ps08d
2026-10-27 05:06:52 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…tlfd
Author Public Key
npub1rhqu8mlfa6tr2up0whlkr79xmkvrkwyzs6jj6u728ykxsqrnpneqxps08dSeen on
wss://relay.momostr.pinkPublished at
2026-10-27 05:06:52 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "That LA times \"read this article and you are bound to our terms of service\" thing violates an informal, but important aspect:\n\nThis is *not* a clearly accepted-by-you license. This is kind of a half-way station on the way between the LA times not saying anything (but asserting you are bound to the license) and a full click through license (which is a much stronger argument that you actually mentally understood and agreed.)\n\nA click-through license has the \"accept\" trigger next to the actual license text - that's why a lot of 'em put the button at the end and you have to scroll through the whole thing.\n\nEric Goldman at Univ Santa Clara has articulated this stuff far better than I could.\n\nnostr:npub1ctahz0g9x49jsfh2tlsn3nekqu7x9jxfe83f6ykyhlesd5c380lq6w6kt3",
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