browsewrap
adj. Describes a legal agreement that the user accepts indirectly by browsing an online site.
Also Seen As
Etymology
Examples
2010
Even Cory Doctorow, the digital rights activist and online champion of all things weird, includes a lengthy legal warning at the bottom of his emails. He uses the space to "require" recipients to free him from their companies’ "non-negotiated agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies."
—Ryan Singel, “Burning Question: Why Do Emails Contain Legal Warnings?,” Wired, December 27, 2010
2009
Third, even if licensing e-books is deemed acceptable, Amazon's conditions of use may not be enforceable. Contracts require mutual assent. Agreements posted in the background on the Web — purporting to bind users without any action on their part — are known as "browsewrap," and their legality as contracts is unclear.
—Michael Seringhaus, “Kindle: How To Buy A Book But Not Own It,” Hartford Courant, August 05, 2009
1992 (earliest)
Another type of licensing has been named "browse-wrap licensing."
—William H. Henning, The Law of Sales Under the Uniform Commercial Code, Warren Gorham & Lamont, June 01, 1992
Notes
The "wrap" part of browsewrap comes from the adjective shrinkwrap, which refers to a license or agreement inside a package (particularly software) that can only be read and accepted by first opening the package (which begins, of course, by removing the shrinkwrap that encloses the box).