Court Ruling, users must be notified and agree to any changes in TOS

agreements that specify that the terms can be changed, aren't holding up

[Demaestro]

Many of us have seen service agreements that specify that the terms could be changed at any time without notifying the user. Well, a recent court decision could change all that. Service providers should not be able to change their terms of service arbitrarily without notifying their registered users, according to the judges in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Judge......"a revised contract is merely an offer and does not bind the parties until accepted"

Original Story:
[arstechnica.com...]

[Quadrille]

Good to hear; that's already law in the UK.

A contract is an agreement between two parties, therefore neither party can arbitrarily change it without the consent of the other.

Sadly, in the UK, banks and finance companies seem to have some kind of exemption, and change things whenever they wish.

[rocknbil]

Beyond that article, is there any information that distinguishes between a "paid service" and free usage?

[Demaestro]

Beyond that article, is there any information that distinguishes between a "paid service" and free usage?

I haven't seen anything else on it to be honest.

I would venture a guess and say that in the eyes of contract law that there isn't any difference.

Weather or not monetary exchanges are included in the contract really shouldn't matter as far as applying contract law to it.... it seems that any contract would fall to this ruling... free service or otherwise.

This is all speculation on my part though.