← Terms.Law

Broadcasting from the fine print

Terms.Law Radio

Calm, useful listening for late work and sleepless hours. On the air all night.

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    Featured

    From the Counsel's Desk

    Two long form specials for the weekend, picked from the desk.

    WATCHDOG LONG FORM

    How to Beat Frozen Merchant Accounts

    The hold, reserve, and freeze clauses that lock up merchant money at Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Cash App, and the leverage that gets it back.

    AI LAW LONG FORM

    Why You Do Not Own AI Output

    The human authorship line, what it does to your logo, your codebase, and your ad campaign, and the contract language that limits the damage.

    Long forms produced with Google NotebookLM from the stations' source reviews; two AI hosts.

    On the air

    Five stations, around the clock. The Watchdog Report grades the fine print you clicked past. The Counsel's Desk carries what crossed a working business lawyer's desk, starting with the Washington to Contract report. The Demand Letter Files open the case drawer, one file per episode. AI Law reads the terms of the machines. And Бизнес в США speaks Russian: American business law for founders entering the U.S. market, on its own live loop.

    WATCHDOG REPORT · 88.1 THE COUNSEL'S DESK · 92.5 DEMAND LETTER FILES · 96.7 AI LAW · 101.3 БИЗНЕС В США · ПО-РУССКИ

    Program guide

    Tonight, and Every Night

    5 stations · 48 episodes · 7.1 hours of programming

    One continuous broadcast: everyone who tunes in hears the same moment, and the live program moves between the four desks all night. Press PLAY to join in progress, use a preset to browse a desk's program list, or play any episode from the archive below, jump to a chapter, or read along.

    WATCHDOG REPORT

    88.1 FM ON AIR

    Terms of service and privacy policies, read out loud and graded. I read the fine print so you don't have to. (12 episodes, 2:03:23 of programming.)

    1. E01
      Summer Terms Sweep: The Grades Are In5:13

      Cash App, Square, PayPal, Stripe, and Anthropic all updated their fine print this summer. The grades are in, and nobody made the honor roll.

      Transcript
    2. E02
      Can Your Payment Processor Freeze Your Money?5:44

      Holds, limitations, and reserves in the terms of Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Cash App, and what each grip actually does to your cash flow.

      Transcript
    3. E03
      Who Trains On Your Data?5:44

      Vendor by vendor, what the AI industry's own published terms say happens to your prompts, files, outputs, and feedback after you press enter.

      Transcript
    4. E04
      The Clause That Changes the Deal5:04

      The unilateral amendment clause under the magnifying glass: five moving parts that let the other side rewrite the deal after you agreed to it.

      Transcript
    5. E05
      Account Suspended, Data Gone5:48

      The password is right and the account is gone. What the fine print says about suspension, termination, and your data, and how to be ready first.

      Transcript
    6. E06
      The Hundred Dollar Liability Cap5:46

      The clause that says the software running your business owes you, at most, the price of an office chair when everything goes wrong. Read slowly.

      Transcript
    7. E07
      Auto-Renewal and the Silent Price Increase4:54

      Renewal defaults, then-current rates, and plan changes that arrive with the notice period of a sneeze. The three gears of the subscription machine.

      Transcript
    8. E08
      Who Owns Your Uploads?5:27

      You usually keep ownership of your uploads, and it usually matters less than you think. License grants, feedback clauses, and improvement rights.

      Transcript
    9. E09
      Arbitration and the Shrinking Deadlines6:02

      Binding arbitration, class action waivers, opt-out windows, and the contract deadlines that can run out before your legal ones do.

      Transcript
    10. E10
      How Platforms Share Your Customers5:53

      Affiliates, advertisers, legal demands, and the sale of the company itself: the four doors your data, and your customers' data, walks out of.

      Transcript
    11. E11
      The Terms Downgrade Index6:10

      The recurring rundown of the most consequential recent terms changes on the watchlist: who changed what, and where the scores stand now.

      Transcript
    12. SP
      How to Beat Frozen Merchant Accounts1:01:38WATCHDOG LONG FORM

      A two-host AI roundtable over the station's source reviews of Cash App, Square, PayPal, Stripe, Anthropic, Kraken, OpenAI, and Gemini, including the hold, reserve, and freeze clauses that lock up merchant money. An hour-scale weekend listen.

      Produced with Google NotebookLM from the station's source reviews; two AI hosts.

    THE COUNSEL'S DESK

    92.5 FM ON AIR

    What crossed a working business lawyer's desk. (11 episodes, 1:19:04 of programming.)

    WASHINGTON TO CONTRACT NOW RUNNING FROM MY DESK COMING SOON DRAFTING NOTES COMING SOON HEALTH & PRIVACY FILE COMING SOON WORKROOM NOTEBOOK COMING SOON THE WRONG SPEND COMING SOON

    PROGRAM · WASHINGTON TO CONTRACT

    1. E01
      Nineteen Days Dark: Washington Reaches the AI Pipeline4:53

      Three stories: the government switched off the most powerful AI model for nineteen days, the White House joined the release pipeline, and the biggest crypto bill missed its own party.

      Transcript
    2. E02
      The AI Vendor Shutdown Problem7:15

      An AI model went dark for nineteen days on a government order. The contract clauses that decide whether the next outage is an inconvenience or a crisis.

      Transcript
    3. E03
      One Rule or Fifty: Preemption and State AI Laws7:41

      Washington and the states both claim the right to regulate AI. Whose rule ends up in your contract, and the compliance allocation clause that decides.

      Transcript
    4. E04
      The CLARITY Act Fights, Translated Into Your Ledger7:37

      The crypto market structure bill is stalled, and the three fights blocking it land on ordinary ledgers: payments, custody, treasury, and counterparties.

      Transcript
    5. E05
      Tariffs: Who Bears the Cost8:08

      The customs bill goes to the importer of record, but the economic cost goes wherever the contract sends it. The five clauses that decide who pays.

      Transcript
    6. E06
      Export Controls Are a SaaS Problem Now6:41

      United States export law can reach your customer list, your access controls, and your uptime. What the law reaches, who you let in, where you serve.

      Transcript
    7. E07
      Noncompete Drafting Now7:51

      The noncompete is the least reliable tool in the drawer. What still works, what fails, and how to build a restrictive covenant stack that survives.

      Transcript
    8. E08
      Privacy: Act or Wait6:39

      Two lists: what changes your operations now under law already in force, and what you monitor with a calendar entry instead of a budget line.

      Transcript
    9. E09
      How Government Rules Become Your Contract Terms7:23

      A procurement standard written for federal contractors ends up, four links later, in the vendor agreement of a company that never sold to a government.

      Transcript
    10. E10
      Immigration as a Business Continuity Risk6:47

      Not an immigration law episode. What corporate documents, contracts, and operating plans should already say before a key person's status changes.

      Transcript
    11. E11
      The Ninety Day Risk Map8:09

      The quarterly flagship: nine items, three lists. What to act on now, what to calendar, and what is drawing more attention than it deserves.

      Transcript

    DEMAND LETTER FILES

    96.7 FM ON AIR

    One case file per episode: the evidence, the number, the deadline, the morning after. Noir for the fine print. (6 episodes, 42:39 of programming.)

    1. E01
      Opening the File Drawer3:56

      Does a demand letter actually do anything? The honest answer, the anatomy of the letters that work, and the mistakes that quietly kill the rest.

      Transcript
    2. E02
      Building the Evidence Packet Before Making the Threat7:24

      The strength of a demand is decided before the drafting starts. What I ask every client for, and why each item in the packet changes the letter.

      Transcript
    3. E03
      How Much Should the Demand Be?8:13

      No sentence in the letter gets written wrong more often than the demand line. Four numbers that go into one, and the order in which to compute them.

      Transcript
    4. E04
      Seven Days, Fourteen Days, or Something Else?7:33

      The deadline is the most misunderstood move on the board. People think it pressures the recipient. Mostly, it commits the sender.

      Transcript
    5. E05
      What Happens After the Demand Expires?8:08

      The letter went out, the deadline passed. The answer takes one of four shapes: silence, the lawyer letter, the lowball, and capitulation.

      Transcript
    6. E06
      When the Letter Is the Wrong Spend7:25

      The file where a lawyer talks himself out of a fee: when a demand letter is the wrong way to spend your money, and what to do instead.

      Transcript

    AI LAW

    101.3 FM ON AIR

    The terms of the machines: who owns the output, who trains on your data, who pays when it is wrong. (7 episodes, 1:23:39 of programming.)

    1. E01
      Who Owns What Your AI Makes?4:01

      The question from almost every consult now: who owns what your AI makes, and who pays when it gets something wrong? Ownership first.

      Transcript
    2. E02
      Who Owns AI-Generated Work?6:39

      Whether your logo, your codebase, or your ad campaign is an asset you can defend or just a file on a server. The human authorship line, all the way down.

      Transcript
    3. E03
      Can They Train On Your Data?7:27

      Every vendor now recites the same sentence: we do not train on your data. Why that sentence alone says almost nothing, and the four definitions underneath.

      Transcript
    4. E04
      Seven Clauses Before You Buy5:55

      Before your business signs up for any AI tool, seven clauses decide nearly all the legal risk. What good looks like, plus one test question for each.

      Transcript
    5. E05
      The One-Page AI Policy6:19

      The internal AI policy your business actually needs fits on one page, because a policy has to work at 4:45 on a Thursday, not in the annual training.

      Transcript
    6. E06
      When AI Is Wrong, Who Pays?6:29

      The oldest question in the law, wearing new clothes. The disclaimer stack and its limits, and where liability lands when someone relies on bad output.

      Transcript
    7. SP
      Why You Do Not Own AI Output46:49AI LAW LONG FORM

      A two-host AI roundtable on AI output ownership, the human authorship line, and what an AI-native solo practice actually looks like, produced from the station's source materials. A weekend listen just under the hour.

      Produced with Google NotebookLM from the station's source reviews; two AI hosts.

    СПЯЩИЙ АГЕНТ

    ПО-РУССКИ · АГЕНТ ПОД ПРИКРЫТИЕМ ON AIR

    Совершенно секретно и абсолютно серьёзно: ИИ-агент под прикрытием передаёт американское право для русскоязычных основателей. Компания, налоги, банк, первый контракт и споры с клиентами из США. Термины переведены буквально, подача как в шпионском радиоэфире. Свой синхронный эфир. (12 передач, 1:38:52.)

    1. E01
      Явка первая: LLC или C-Corp, выбор структуры прикрытия8:38

      Первое решение основателя из-за рубежа: LLC или C-Corporation. Налоги, инвесторы, отчетность, и как не выбрать форму, которая не подходит вашей дороге.

      Transcript
    2. E02
      Выбор базы: Делавэр, Вайоминг или штат, где вы залегли8:19

      Все говорят про Delaware, кто-то советует Wyoming, а работать вы будете в другом штате. Где регистрироваться на самом деле, и когда домашний штат выигрывает.

      Transcript
    3. E03
      Позывной без SSN: получаем EIN, не раскрывая себя7:42

      Компания зарегистрирована, но без EIN ее не видят ни банк, ни Stripe, ни налоговая. Как получить номер без SSN и не переплачивать посредникам.

      Transcript
    4. E04
      Легенда держится: компания в США не делает вас налоговым резидентом7:49

      Самый живучий страх русскоязычных чатов: открыл компанию, стал резидентом. Что на самом деле считается, и где проходит граница.

      Transcript
    5. E05
      Донесение Form 5472: отчёт, о котором вспоминают слишком поздно8:16

      Ноль налога не значит ноль бумаг. Form 5472 для иностранного владельца LLC: штраф в двадцать пять тысяч долларов и как его не заработать.

      Transcript
    6. E06
      Проверка на явке: Mercury, Wise, Brex и банковский KYC8:20

      Счет для компании из-за рубежа: что проверяют банки, почему отказывают без объяснений, и как подготовить заявку, которую одобрят.

      Transcript
    7. E07
      Личное дело: паспорт РФ, второе резидентство и OFAC8:17

      Как санкционный комплаенс смотрит на основателя с российским паспортом, и что снижает риск блокировок на ровном месте.

      Transcript
    8. E08
      Первый контакт: договор с клиентом из США, десять пунктов до подписи8:15

      Вам прислали документ на пятнадцать страниц. Десять пунктов, которые нужно проверить до подписи: от оплаты и scope до IP и подсудности.

      Transcript
    9. E09
      Кто владеет разработкой: код, написанный до внедрения8:37

      Два товарища год писали продукт до регистрации компании. Кому принадлежит этот код, почему инвесторы это проверяют, и как это чинится задним числом.

      Transcript
    10. E10
      Подготовка к заброске: Delaware C-Corp, SAFE, vesting и 83(b)8:15

      Четыре термина венчурной дороги, переведенные с инвесторского на человеческий, и срок в тридцать дней, который не прощает опоздания.

      Transcript
    11. E11
      Связной молчит: как выбить оплату из-за рубежа8:09

      Из серии Из моей практики: что реально работает из-за границы, от письма юриста до суда мелких исков, и на что не стоит тратить деньги.

      Transcript
    12. E12
      Канал перекрыт: Stripe или PayPal заморозил деньги компании8:10

      Письмо приходит всегда не вовремя: выплаты приостановлены, средства недоступны. Что делать шаг за шагом, и как не сделать хуже.

      Transcript

    Why this radio exists

    I built Terms.Law Radio for the hours when silence feels too empty, ordinary news feels too frantic, and generic meditation is not what I want. I wanted a calm voice in the room while I work, read, or wait for sleep, but I also wanted the time to be useful. The result is a continuous late-night-style broadcast about contracts, AI, privacy, business disputes, and the legal issues crossing my desk. If you work nights too, tune in and leave it on.

    How this broadcast is made

    Every episode is written and legally reviewed at my desk before it airs. AI voice technology produces the narration and keeps the station running around the clock; the judgment about what is worth saying is mine. The source material behind each episode is linked from the transcripts and from the ToS Watchdog and Privacy Watchdog libraries.