FreeLex is composed from two words. Free related to freedom and openness, and Lex which is a Latin word which means Law. FreeLex’ aim is to turn the “incomprehensible” Lex (or Law) into an open and comprehensive Law for everyone.
FreeLex is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making it easier for people to understand user agreements, terms of use and other contracts alike. FreeLex also provides to Networks with the necessary tools to let their users understand easily the terms in their agreements and make them user-friendly in order to avoid FUDs.
As you know, we are living in an ever speeding world, surrounded by loads of information and with less free time available for us. More and more of us are using Networks and Internet Services around the world. Those Services usually ask from us an acceptance to their User Agreements or Terms of Use. Unfortunately, these tend to be long, written to be understood only by lawyers and thus hard to understand for the general public. If we add here our scarce free time, we will get a funny, but dangerous equation.
few free time
＋ long terms of use
＋ legal terminology
=
FUD
FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Fear to what is legal or not, what I can or can’t do. Uncertainty and Doubt because of that very reason. So, what happens then? That we accept those terms without even taking a look at them. Why bother if they are so difficult to understand?
The solution is simple: simplification. And how? Making a human-readable summary of what lawyers are use to deal with. This will bring clearness and understandability, thus creating a better understanding about those Terms of Use or User Agreements. To understand the basic and most important parts of the Terms is the key to erase FUDs around the web.
FreeLex provides the necessary tools to make clear summaries of the Terms of Use or User Agreements of a Network, making the key terms understandable and better accessible for users.
Then the equation changes:
few free time
＋short summary
＋ clear terminology
=
CAT
This stands for Certainty, Assurance and Trust.
How many times have you read a “Users Agreement”, “Terms of Use” or “License” and being unable to understand everything??
Legal language, as well as legal writing, uses a special legal terminology. This legal language places heavy reliance on Authority using a complex citation system. Thus, legal terminology cannot be understood by everyone, being the realm of lawyers, law students, legal professionals, professors…
But, why is legal terminology so complex? Why is it so difficult to understand the legal writing of legal documents, contracts or licenses? Let’s take a look to what legal terminology is about:
1. First, it uses specialized words like “tort”.
2. Second, quotidian words have another meaning. For example, “action” which means “lawsuit”.
3. Third, it uses archaic vocabulary, like “herein” or “hereto”.
4. Forth, it loans words from other languages, for example Latin (like the Lex, Law, in FreeLex).
All these characteristics makes legal language and writing quite difficult to understand for common people. Which is creating a gap between those who understand and those who do not understand, specially in a world which is turning its wheel more and more into Internet. Every time we decide to be members of a Platform, or download some program, or purchase something we have to “agree” to certain terms: the “terms of use” or “users agreement”. These licenses tend to be long, and written in a language we cannot understand or that we understand with difficulty. This demands from us a great amount of time for understanding the bits and pieces of the whole agreement. Finally, we “agree” to something without reading or without really understanding the legal writing. We cannot hire a lawyer every time we want to do something in internet, can we?
As Aristotle said, “Law should govern”. But… How? Shall Law govern as it is, in a world were common people are busy and cannot dedicate hours, weeks and years to learn the legal terminology that Law uses? Or, shall Law govern in a fair way letting people know what are they agreeing to?
As the article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law”. For being equal before the law we must know, understand what the law says. We cannot rely forever on specialist who translate for us the ins and outs of the law, mainly because we live in a world were transactions through internet are increasing everyday. Not every family has a lawyer in its members. Furthermore, for being entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law we need to understand it. Discrimination happens when some can understand and some do not.
Thus, the right to access to the Law should be enforced. What does it mean “right to access to the law”? It means “right-to-understand” the law. If we don not know and do not understand the legal language, thus, the law, Law cannot govern, we are not equal before the law and we are not entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.
The right of access to the Law in the sense of “right-to-understand” creates what nowadays legal terminology cannot do: equality and non-discrimination. When Law is open in the sense of being clear and accessible for everyone, Law becomes a free open system in which security, freedom, trust and equality appears.
FreeLex is not stating that we should “eradicate” the legal terminology from earth. Instead, that we should make an effort to create a double layer in which both legal specialists and common people can understand legal language. How? FreeLex proposes you the first step for interweaving the legal with digital. With the User Friendly Agreement a Platform can both have two versions of its “User Agreements”. The contents of these two versions are the same: main clauses will be displayed into the User Friendly Agreement to make them more accessible, comprehensive and easy-to-understand for the general public. Thus, creating an easy visible version thanks to which no user will not know what are the dos and don’ts of the real code user agreement.
Let’s create CATs, not FUDs.
