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60 Am. U. L. Rev. 1635 (2010-2011)
Website Design as Contract

handle is hein.journals/aulr60 and id is 1647 raw text is: WEBSITE DESIGN AS CONTRACT WOODROW HARTZOG TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .................................... ......1635 I. Choking on Form Contracts.......................1639 A. A Brief Review of Wraps................ .......1642 B. The Danger of Over-Reliance on Standard-Form Contracts........................... ..........1645 II. The Contractual Significance of Website Design.........................1650 A . D esign as Prom ise .................................................................1653 1. Privacy indicators ............................................................1653 2. W orking with the fine print .............................................1655 3. The likelihood of reliance................................................1661 4. The problems with website design as contract ................1662 B. U nconscionable D esign ......................................................... 1664 1. Procedural unconscionability of website design..............1664 2. A taxonomy of malicious interfaces................................1665 C. Design as Evidence of Subsequent Agreement.....................1668 Conclusion ..........................................1670 INTRODUCTION When courts seek to determine a website user's privacy expectations and the website's promises to that user, they almost invariably look to the terms of use agreement or to the privacy policy.' Courts rarely look to the * Assistant Professor, Cumberland School of Law at Samford University; Affiliate Junior Scholar, Center for Internet and Society, Stanford Law School. The author would like to thank Daniel Solove, William McGeveran, Chris Hooffnagle, Ryan Calo, Cathy Packer, Anne Klinefelter, Nancy Kim, Jen King, Fred Stutzman, Dean Smith, Jennifer Hartzog, Danielle Citron, Marcia Hofmann, Will DeVries, Lauren Willis, Jennifer Urban, Deven Desai, the Cumberland School of Law faculty, the participants of the Third Annual Privacy Law Scholars Conference, and the participants of Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic's Privacy Scholars Speakers Series. 1. E.g., McVicker v. King, 266 F.R.D. 92, 95-96 (W.D. Pa. 2010) (looking to the privacy policy and terms of service to find that a blog created an expectation of privacy for its users); Sedersten v. Taylor, No. 09-3031-CV-S-GAF, 2009 WL 4802567, at *1, *3 (W.D. Mo. Dec. 9, 2009) (finding a website privacy policy does not waive a user's right to anonymous free speech); In re JetBlue Airways Corp. Privacy Litig., 379 F. Supp. 2d 299, 1635

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