Small print needs to be very big.
I could be signing my life away. I wouldn't know - I don't always read the small print.
Who does?
It's not that it's in legalese any more. Most of the stuff that appears in the agreements by Apple and other "modern" producers at least appears to be in plain-ish English.
There are two reasons I simply don't read it.
First, there's so much of it. It may be small but it takes up a big amount of space.
And second, I don't have time to work out what it means. Presumably, in almost all cases - unless it's a new box of something - I've signed up to terms and conditions before, so I need to know what's new.
What I need is a really useful box to tick: I haven't read this, I don't have time but I need to get on and use it now because that's why I bought this thing.
(I'm not wild about software that obliges you to agree to volumes of print even though you've bought it already but won't work unless you sign).
This is no laughing matter.
Just this lunchtime, in a rare idle moment between bouts of most serious work, I browsed an item on the BBC talking about small print and satellite navigation systems.
It said that when you upgrade your device online you're asked to agree to your data being shared with the supplying organisation.
That's not just name and address.
It's every journey you subsequently make: time, locations, distance and speeds.
That will worry some.
(Those who use sat nav to get to illicit liaisons should use a map.)
Sometimes the small print is eloquently laid out to make you more likely to sign.
Kindle, for example, asked whether I was interested in finding out which passages other readers highlighted in books.
Interested yes - but it meant sharing what I found interesting with others.
Reciprocity nein danke.
I regularly get changes in terms and conditions from suppliers of commercial services. It's the same thing - reams of paper with a sign up box at the bottom.
Who has time?
Not me.
So here's my proposition.
Change terms by all means but make it clear in a minute or so why things are changing, what it means and where you sign if you want to continue to use the thing but don't want to agree to anything new.
That's 60 seconds.
A reasonable length of time I'd say.
And in particular where signing up to new Ts and Cs might change privacy, finances, or anything of significance, put that in the headlines.
For example, "if you sign this then people you've never met will be able to see how you spend every minute of your life."
Those who know about such things may believe that manufacturers are already bound to do all this.
I really don't know.
As I say, I don't read the small print.