Title: Standard-Form Contracting in the Electronic Age
Abstract: The Internet is turning the process of contracting on its head. With increasing alacrity, people are mouse-clicking their way into enforceable standard-form contracts on the Internet ("browsewrap" contracts) while installing software ("clickwrap" contracts). The emergence of this new contracting medium has produced numerous claims of the inadequacy of existing contract law to govern standard-form contracts made at the speed of light. Consumer advocates worry that the electronic media presents new methods for businesses to take advantage of consumers. By contrast, businesses engaged in e-commerce insist that courts must relax existing legal protections so as to nourish this new form of business. We contend that existing contract law provides an appropriate regime in which to assess electronic contracts.