These days, you can hardly get any service without having to sign some kind of service contract. I make a point of reading every single one of them. I hate signing them, because they often have clauses in them that I consider unreasonable. Yet, I put up with it and sign it, since it would just be too big a deal to argue against those clauses, especially when I need to have the service right now.

These corporations also bend and twist and mangle the laws to such an extent that the laws are essentially defeated, and as consumers our rights are compromised.

I was happy to read on Slashdot today that the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that AT&T’s service agreement may not waiver a client’s right to file a lawsuit against the company.

“AT&T’s Consumer Services Agreement is substantively unconscionable and therefore unenforceable to the extent that it purports to waive the right to class actions, require confidentiality, shorten the Washington Consumer Protection Act statute of limitations, and limit availability of attorney fees. … Courts will not be easily deceived by attempts to unilaterally strip away consumer protections and remedies by efforts to cloak the waiver of important rights under an arbitration clause.”

The full ruling is available in PDF format.

I think that the big corporates who attempt to downplay our rights are scumbags, and the people who take the time to deal with them and bring them to justice are my heroes.