DontREADME

You don't want to read a Terms of Service page longer than the Constitution. You also don't want to sign off something without knowing what it is about. Let us handle the fine print for you.

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Inspiration

A few months ago, I logged into a small website. Before accessing it, I had to agree to its Terms of Service without really understanding what I was consenting to. A few days later, I began receiving unwanted emails from the website—many containing some suspicious content. This experience made me realize how often people, including myself, blindly accept Terms of Service agreements without knowing what they actually entail.

I started to wonder how many others might be unknowingly giving away personal data, privacy rights, or even creative ownership simply because these documents are too long and complex to read. That’s when the idea for this project emerged: to create a website that automatically reads and picks up red flags from Terms of Service documents.

What it does

DontREADME takes a Terms of Service document as input and analyzes it to identify potential red flags related to data collection and privacy violations. It also checks whether the text follows conventional formatting patterns of corporate Terms of Service documents before flagging concerning sections.

How we built it

DontREADME is a web application built with React.js and Node.js, powered by the Gemini Summarizer API. The frontend sends API requests containing the Terms of Service text, and the API responds with a detailed analysis highlighting suspicious or privacy-invasive clauses. The website then presents this information to the user.

Challenges we ran into

Initially, I ran into issues using the node-fetch library—it wasn’t transmitting the necessary headers, causing the API request to fail despite working perfectly in Postman. After troubleshooting, I switched to Axios, which happened to be more reliable and compatible with JSX-based web applications.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I’m proud that the website works as intended and directly addresses the problem that inspired it at the first point. It feels rewarding to see the concept evolve from a personal frustration into a functional solution that promotes transparency and online safety. I’m also excited to have integrated Google’s updated Summarizer API, which opens doors for further refinement and innovation in future projects.

What's next for DontREADME

Since contracts are a critical part of digital interactions, I plan to expand DontREADME into a broader contract analysis tool. My next goal is to develop a specialized LLM capable of identifying red flags across various types of agreements—not just Terms of Service—making it a valuable assistant for both everyday users and professionals.

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