Terms of use , terms of service ( English Terms of service / use ) - these are rules that you must agree to before using any service, most often on the Internet [1] .
Also, the terms of use may include a disclaimer.
Content
- 1 Application
- 2 Contents
- 2.1 Disadvantages
- 3 Criticism and litigation
- 3.1 AOL
- 3.2 Sony
- 3.3 Instagram
- 3.4 zappos
- 4 See also
- 5 notes
- 6 References
Application
As a rule, the terms of use are on the websites of companies that provide software or Internet services. For example, such services include web browsers , e-commerce services, search engines, social networks and applications that allow you to use transport . The main purpose of the terms of use is legal.
The terms of use are legal [2] and are subject to change [3] . Companies may refer to terms of use to refuse to provide services. Customers may file a claim if they have suffered a violation of the terms of use. Moreover, during the merger and during other legal transactions, there is a risk of incorrect storage of user data [4] .
Contents
The following sections may be in the terms of use:
- Keyword and phrase definitions
- User rights and obligations
- Proper and incorrect use of the service
- Responsibility for actions committed by the user
- Privacy and Personal Data Processing Policy
- Paid services (membership or subscription)
- Unsubscribe and account deletion policies
- Judicial conflict resolution
- Disclaimer or limitation
- Ability to change terms of use (and ways to notify users of changes)
Deficiencies in the content of the terms of use
Terms of use have certain problems. Listed below are the 500 most popular sites with terms of use [5] .
- In 70% of the terms of use, the average sentence length exceeded 25 words (less than 25 words recommended).
- Flesch Reading Ease turned out to be 34 (texts that have it above 60 are considered to be readable)
- According to Flesch-Kincaid , 498 out of 500 conditions of use had a reading difficulty level higher than recommended (recommended is considered a level suitable for a student of grade 8).
The terms of use of the services of companies that provide DNA testing services were also evaluated. According to 2014 data, the 71st of such companies (out of 102) has terms of use [6] .
- In 57 of 71 cases, the disclaimer is mentioned in the conditions of use. In 10 cases, it is mentioned that the company disclaims liability for employee negligence.
- 51 companies may change their terms (17 - without warning). 34 companies may disclose data in certain circumstances.
- 31 companies require consumers to pay damages to it.
- 20 companies promise not to sell data
According to studies, the 31st cloud computing company had the following terms of use [7] :
- 27 documents indicate under which legislation the company operates (US law or the laws of another country).
- In many conditions it is said that a company can only be sued in a certain city, and a company can sue a consumer in any city
- In some conditions of use, the time limit for filing claims is limited: from six months to two years.
- 7 documents impose arbitration, all terms of use prohibit illegal behavior by the consumer
- 13 companies can change the terms of use by posting changes on the site
- Companies generally refuse to be responsible for privacy or data backup
- After termination of use, as a rule, data is stored only for a short time, some companies promise to carefully delete data
- Some control customer data so that the terms of use are respected.
- In all conditions of use, there is a disclaimer of warranties, in almost all - a disclaimer of liability
- 24 documents require compensation for damage caused to the company, according to some documents, the company is obliged to indemnify the client
- Some companies provide compensation for poor service, 15 try to make the "best efforts" to fulfill the contract
Researchers note that in many jurisdictions the rules of use may not be enforceable, for example, deletion of data may be recognized as not complying with the law and interests of the court.
Criticism and Litigation
AOL
In 1994, the Washington Times reported that America Online (AOL) passed information to marketers. However, she did not notify and did not ask subscribers about this.
On July 1, 1997, AOL published new terms of use without notice of changes. In particular, the changes allowed marketers access to phone numbers. A few days before the changes came into force, one of the AOL members informed the media about the changes, press reports appeared. As a result, the ability to refuse to transfer phone numbers to marketers was added [1] .
Sony
In 2011, Sony Corporation sued George Hotz . Sony said it violated PlayStation Network terms of use and contract terms.
December 17, 2012 Instagram announced a change in terms of use, the new terms of use caused a resonance. The controversial paragraph said that third-party companies can use photos in paid content, and there was no compensation for this.
It was impossible to refuse the new conditions of use [8] . Terms of use have been criticized by consumers and people who protect privacy. After one day, Instagram apologized, saying it would remove conflicting phrases from the new terms of use [9] . Kevin Systrom , co-founder of Instagram, made a statement:
| Our intention in updating the terms was to communicate that we'd like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram. Instead it was interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing. To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear. [10] |
Zappos
The terms of use of Zappos allowed the possibility to amend them unilaterally. However, the 2012 case led to the fact that some of the clauses of the terms of use, like this one, now have no legal force [11] .
See also
- Abandonware
- End User License Agreement
- Free software license
- Computer Legal Terms in Wiktionary (in English)
- Online privacy
- Wrapping license
- Software Asset Management
- Software license
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Janet Kornblum. AOL dumps new member policy (July 29, 1997). Date of treatment December 24, 2006. Archived January 19, 2013.
- ↑ Joel Hruska. Most Website Terms of Service Are Functionally Incomprehensible to Americans - ExtremeTech . www.extremetech.com. Date accessed August 27, 2019.
- ↑ Adam Smith. 'I Agree to the Terms and Conditions:' One of the Largest Lies in Tech . PCMAG (August 21, 2019). Date accessed August 27, 2019.
- ↑ John; Jennifer Swanton; Tony Cardine Del piero. 5 Ways to Secure Your Intellectual Property During Corporate Transitions // Legaltech News: journal. - 2017 .-- 28 August.
- ↑ Shmuel I .; Becher. The Duty to Read the Unreadable : journal. - 2019. - 11 January.
- ↑ Andelka M .; Phillips Genomic Privacy and Direct-to-Consumer Genetics: Big Consumer Genetic Data - What's in that Contract? (English) // 2015 IEEE Security and Privacy Workshops: journal. - IEEE, 2015 .-- P. 60-64 . - DOI : 10.1109 / SPW.2015.19 . p
- ↑ Simon; Bradshaw. Contracts for Clouds: Comparison and Analysis of the Terms and Conditions of Cloud Computing Services ( journal ) : journal. - Queen Mary University of London - Cloud Legal Project, 2010 .-- September 2.
- ↑ Julianne Pepitone. Instagram can now sell your photos for ads . CNNMoney . CNN (December 18, 2012). Date of treatment December 18, 2012.
- ↑ Declan McCullagh . Instagram apologizes to users: We won't sell your photos , Cnet (December 18, 2012). Date of treatment December 19, 2012.
- ↑ Kevin Systrom. Thank you, and we're listening . Instagram Instagram (December 18, 2012). Date of treatment December 19, 2012.
- ↑ Eric Goldman. How Zappos' User Agreement Failed In Court and Left Zappos Legally Naked . Date of treatment October 1, 2013.
Links
- [1] List of changes to the terms of use on “many online services” since June 2013.
- Terms of Service; Didn't read - terms of use information
- Clickwrapped - assessing the terms of use of some Internet companies