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I don’t think so. Aside from frequently being included into Google’s data by sites that use GoogleAnalytics without ever asking me anything, these TOS click throughs aren’t honest agreements as they are long and confusing and change over time.

Even if I never log in and go to Google.com without an account they are using data on me and I never clicked anything.

I don’t have agency to avoid Google collecting data on me unless I stop using the internet. Perhaps if I always use TOR or something.

And that’s me who works in this area day in and day out. “Average users” definitely don’t have agency and can’t be expected to give informed consent to these data collections.

In medical research before informed consent [0] was law, experiments would have “click through TOS” that patients would accept without understanding, often with some token offering.

I don’t think it’s accurate or fair to say that random users clicking through agreements in exchange for free services have agency.

[0] https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ethics/informed-con...




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