Article · Technology

I Agree: How a Click Became a Contract

15 U.S.C. §§ 7001

Type
Article
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2026-05-26
Topic
Technology

Almost every contract an ordinary person enters is now formed by clicking a button, and the law of whether that click bound them is both settled and widely misunderstood. This article explains what actually makes an online agreement enforceable, and it is not the signature — it is notice and manifestation of assent. It traces the doctrine from Specht v. Netscape through Nguyen v. Barnes and Noble, Sgouros v. TransUnion, and Meyer v. Uber, and extracts the design rules courts actually apply. It explains what ESIGN and UETA do, which is far less than people assume: they remove the writing and signature obstacle and change nothing else about formation. It covers attribution, the audit trail, and the records that make an electronic agreement provable years later. It covers the unilateral modification clause and why a change-of-terms provision without notice frequently fails. It covers dark patterns, negative option billing, and the disclosure rules that now govern subscriptions. A fictional dispute runs throughout.

I Agree: How a Click Became a Contract

Technology > E-Commerce | Published 26 May 2026 - Updated 17 July 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

The question is never whether you clicked. It is whether a reasonably prudent person would have known there was something to click about.

Keywords: clickwrap, browsewrap, assent, conspicuous notice, ESIGN, UETA, attribution, modification, dark patterns

The full text of this document is available to Executive subscribers and above. See plans.