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The Leveller™ and the Public Interest Movement Toward Informed Consent
- Steve Conley
- May 17
- 3 min read
For years, consumer harm has often been framed as a personal failure.
“You should have read the agreement.”
“You signed it.”
“You accepted the terms.”
But a new UK Government consultation on the misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) suggests something important is beginning to shift.
The conversation is slowly moving away from:“Did someone sign?”
Towards: “Did they truly understand what they were signing?”
And: “Was the process genuinely fair?”
That distinction matters.
Because across modern society, many of the most harmful agreements are not entered into from a position of equal knowledge, calm reflection, or informed capability.
They are often signed:
under pressure,
during stress,
with incomplete understanding,
inside highly asymmetric systems,
using language ordinary people struggle to interpret.
The Government’s 2026 consultation on NDAs explicitly recognises concerns around:
power imbalance,
coercion,
inaccessible language,
urgency tactics,
and people being pressured into silence.
That is not just an employment issue.
It is increasingly a public-interest issue across society.
Because the same structural patterns appear in:
financial agreements,
pension transfers,
guarantees,
mortgage terms,
legal settlements,
online platform terms,
consumer credit,
investment promotions,
and complex digital contracts.
The form changes.
The underlying dynamic often does not.
The consultation repeatedly refers to the importance of ensuring people:
have “a greater say”
and “an understanding of what they are agreeing to.”
That is precisely the problem The Leveller™ was created to help address.
The Leveller is not anti-business. It is not anti-contract. And it is not legal advice.
It is a public-interest protection tool designed to help ordinary people pause, reflect, and think more clearly before committing to important agreements.
Not everyone has:
a solicitor,
a compliance department,
financial literacy,
negotiation confidence,
or the emotional bandwidth to decode dense contractual language.
Especially when:
they are distressed,
vulnerable,
rushed,
intimidated,
or afraid of losing an opportunity.
The consultation also explores proposals such as:
cooling-off periods,
plain language,
independent advice,
accessible formats,
and explicit informed consent.
Those ideas all point toward a larger societal shift:
A growing recognition that informed consent is not simply about obtaining a signature.
It is about ensuring people have:
clarity,
space,
comprehension,
and genuine agency.
This is where AI may become socially important.
Most AI discussion today focuses on:
productivity,
automation,
efficiency,
and institutional optimisation.
But another possibility is emerging.
AI as a public-interest thinking companion.
Not replacing judgement.Supporting it.
Helping people:
understand risk,
identify asymmetry,
spot hidden implications,
recognise imbalance,
and ask better questions before signing.
That is the deeper use case behind The Leveller™.
Not fear. Not litigation. Not conflict.
Prevention.
A calmer, earlier intervention before confusion becomes harm.
Because many crises do not begin with malicious intent.
They begin with: “I didn’t fully understand what I was agreeing to.”
And increasingly, society itself appears to be recognising that this is not always an individual failing.
Sometimes it is a systems design problem.
The consultation remains open until 8 July 2026 and seeks public views on how NDAs should be restricted and what safeguards should exist around informed consent and confidentiality agreements.
The wider question may extend far beyond NDAs.
In an increasingly complex world, how do we help ordinary people think clearly before they commit themselves to agreements that may shape their future?
That question sits at the heart of The Leveller™.
And perhaps, increasingly, at the heart of public interest itself.
Help us get The Leveller™ published on Google Play.
We only need 2 more Android testers to reach the minimum requirement.
The Leveller is a public-interest protection tool designed to help people better understand agreements, spot hidden risks, and think more clearly before signing.
If you have:
• an Android phone
• a Google Play account
• 2 minutes to help
please message me, or email me, or click on the link below to become a tester today.
A small action here could help protect a lot of people later.
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