[liberationtech] Web Inventor Releases Ambitious Plan to Take Back Net

[Thomas Delrue]

On 11/24/19 10:31 PM, Yosem Companys wrote:
> The contract is non-binding, however. And funders and partners in the
> endeavor include Google and Facebook, whose data-collecting business
> models and sensation-rewarding algorithms have been blamed for
> exacerbating online toxicity.

I'm a little confused by the choice of words in the term "contract for
the web"... Can someone explain to me what exactly a non-binding
contract is?
The first 7 words of the Wikipedia entry for 'contract' are literally "A
contract is a legally binding agreement". How can a 'legally binding
agreement' be non-binding?
MW has as its first entry for 'contract' the following "a binding
agreement between two or more persons or parties especially : one
legally enforceable".

Forgive my cynicism, but what exactly will this do or accomplish if it
isn't binding, except to make some folks feel warm and fuzzy for signing
something that will be forgotten in a heartbeat?
Surely, this is nothing more than a PR stunt? It's about as vacuous as
the statement "Don't be evil" (by google) or "We care about your
privacy" (by facebook), no?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that TBL has started this conversation, as
it is one to be had. However, without the binding-ness, the good
intentions and desires, outlined in the 'contract', will go no-where.
Unfortunately, we don't need more conversation on this subject, we need
actual change, and that requires enforceability.

If the purpose of making it non-enforceable was to make sure entities
like google or facebook signed as well, then I ask "why? Why do they
have to sign as well"? Especially if they are the highest probability
candidates to violate the intention of the document. Why would it have
been important for them to sign something that will make no difference?
Why not leave them excluded and let them be on display for the predatory
entities that they are?

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