LEGAL LANGUAGE IN THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT: A REVIEW OF LANGUAGE SIMPLIFICATION PROJECTS

Abstract

Ordinary subscribers face difficulties in understanding legal language, jargon, legislation and contract terms included in the privacy policies or terms of services used in the digital services, especially in smartphone apps. In particular, software developers are expected to include simpler language to comply with the legal provisions, and the users demand clearer language in the privacy policies or terms of services of the apps to provide informed consent. This paper reviews two projects that aim to simplify legal languages, one for developers and one for users. The primary aim of these projects is to encourage clearer legal language and provide reforms and proposals to improve current practices. It has been revealed that these efforts to simplify legal language are applied to specific categories and narrow fields and do not replace the original legal documents.