Phishing Terms of Agreement?

I’ve been recieving spam via Live Messenger and have mostly ignored them to-date. Feeling adventurous today, I decided to click and view one of these sites and noticed that they had a Terms of Use agreement. It’s actually quite a humourous read if you’re interested, so take a look below.

Terms of Use / Privacy Policy:

By filling out this form, you authorize [spam company], Inc to spread the word about this 100% real and upcomming Messenger Community Site.  You will receive your share of the credit in helping us spread the word.  This is a harmless Community site which is offering users a platform to meet each other for free.

Right, real and “upcomming” Community site, sounds encouraging to me! In fact, they offer to share the credit in spreading the word. What exactly are they they going to share, their revenue? They even state that the site is harmless. I feel safer already.

We do not share your private information with any third parties.  By using our service/website  you hereby fully authorize [spam company], Inc to send messages of a commercial nature via Instant Messages and E-Mails on behalf of third parties via the information you provide us. This is not a "phishing" site that attempts to "trick" you into revealing personal information. Everything we do with your information is disclosed here. If you are under eighteen (18), you MUST obtain permission from a parent or guardian before using our website/service.

Great! They state that they will send “messages of a commercial nature”, ie. SPAM, via IM and E-Mail, on behalf of third parties. The quotes around “phishing” and “trick” definitely make me feel safe. Afterall, the meaning of phishing and trick must be ambiguous, which necessitates the quotes… right?

This page is not affiliated with or operated by Microsoft(tm) or MSN Network(tm).

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We may temporarily access your MSN account to do a combination of the following:
1.  Send Instant Messages to your friends promoting this site.
2.  Introduce new entertaining sites to your friends via Instant Messages.

Sign me up!

This is a free service. You will not be asked to pay at any time.  You will not be subscribed to anything asking for payment.  This service is made possible by many hours of human effort.

Wow, all these features… for free. Who woulde have thought? A project of such caliber, that was made possible by many hours of human effort, all for free!