Ralph Nader Discusses the Fine Print in “The Incarceration of the American Consumer”
 

Nader writes: “We need to focus on the incarcerating infrastructure that corporate attorneys build year after year to insulate their corporate paymasters from structural accountability under the rule of law.

Take the two main pillars of American law—contracts and torts. For half a century, power lawyers, backed by corporate campaign cash for legislators, have hacked at the roots of the legal protections for shoppers and for wrongfully injured people. Fine print contracts—called “mice print” by Senator Elizabeth Warren—block consumers from going to court and mandate compulsory arbitration. Other fine print lets the vendors change the contract any time without getting specific consent of the buyers. Internet fine print amounts to simply “clicking” and being instantly bound by a matrix of contract peonage. This victory for corporate lawyers is a defeat for the American people who lose their freedom of contract—a servitude that should arouse conservatives and liberals alike.”  See here for the entire piece.