A boss has told Newsweek how he added a free wine offer in his website's terms and conditions in an experiment to prove how few people read the small print.
It took three months for anyone to claim the free bottle he was saving for the first person to email him.
Tax Policy Associates, a think tank, introduced the discreetly hidden freebie clause into their website terms and conditions in February. Dan Neidle, head of the non-profit organization, shared the results on X, formerly Twitter, on May 9, when he revealed that after three months, someone had finally claimed the free bottle of wine.
"This was just a childish protest against the pointlessness of GDPR requiring every tiny business and non-profit to have privacy terms and a cookie policy, Neidle told Newsweek. "Businesses spend hours writing them, and consumers don't read them and just get annoyed clicking to make them go away."
While it is true that many people don't take the time to read the privacy policy on a website they are browsing, privacy laws like the GDPR, CCPA, and others require websites that collect personal data from users have a privacy policy that discloses their data practices.
Almost all webpages gather some kind of data on the browser, from tracking the users' browsing activities to geographical location and identifying details.
Failing to have a compliant privacy policy can result in hefty fines and legal penalties.
Following the keen-eyed discovery, the organization updated the fine print on its website.
"We know nobody reads this because we added in February that we'd send a bottle of good wine to the first person to contact us, and it was only in May that we got a response," now states a line in their privacy policy.
Following the three months while the wine was on offer, Neidle said he was actually shocked it hadn't been claimed sooner.
"Our website has an audience of lawyers and Tax nerds, so I'd rather thought it would be collected sooner," he said. "In the end, the only reason one chap saw it is that he was writing his own privacy policy and searching for examples. After I sent him the bottle, it turns out he doesn't drink alcohol..."
While the reveal of the hidden terms on X has sparked conversation about the necessity of terms and conditions—and if anyone ever takes the time to read them—Neidle joked: "I should probably lie to you and say something like: we will definitely be running further offers and so everybody reading this should regularly check our website taxpolicy.org.uk and read every last detail, just in case."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Alice Gibbs is a Newsweek Senior Internet Trends & Culture Reporter based in the U.K. For the last two years ... Read more
