The online fine print - those terms and conditions that you
agree to when you buy something online - it
really does matter where those terms are
placed in the checkout process. A recent US case
illustrates this point. In Tompkins v. 23andMe, Inc., 2014 WL
2903752 (N.D. Cal. June 25, 2014), the court dealt with an
online checkout process for DNA testing kits sold by 23andMe.
When completing a purchase, customers were not presented with any
mandatory click-through screen for the transaction to complete.
There was a passive link at the footer of the transaction page,
something the court dismissed as a "browsewrap", which
was ineffective to bind the customers. In other words, the Terms of
Service were not effective at that point in the transaction.
