In an article for The Washington Post, Daniel Wilf-Townsend writes that as U.S. lawmakers consider a federal privacy law, it would be wise for them to manage the “crucial issue of forced-arbitration clauses in consumer contracts.” He writes that without addressing forced arbitration, consumers would be left with no practical options for enforcing their rights. He adds that nearly everything consumers do on the internet involves a contract and writes, “Even though these terms of service are nonnegotiable, hard to decipher and rarely read, courts generally enforce them. And because arbitration clauses are empowered by federal law, states can do little to change their own laws to protect citizens from them.” (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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