spiritualiteez01

Hi Everyone;
My web designer is waiting for me to provide terms of Use, Privacy Policy, etc. I have searched the net for hours with no success looking for e-commerce law in New York State. Is there some special law or wording I have to use on my site?? I have checked out so many other site's policies - some are so simple, some so paranoid ( lots of lawyer talk, hmph! ). Can anyone point me in the right direction? I am assuming (uh oh ) that there are a) international laws b) federal laws and c) state laws. Right? Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

Reply With Quote

JohnnyMo

Spiritual --

I'm honestly not sure there are any real "laws" on the books about requirements for a Privacy Policy, or TOS.... generally speaking, I think most of us just do them as a method of "Cover Your A**" though whether they have any real legal bearing is questionable.... From what I have gathered, most cities, states, and bureaucracies only mandate laws regarding taxes, business licensing, zoning (you prolly aren't legally allowed to print those t-shirts in your garage) and every now and again we get some specific issue addresses like CAN-SPAM which mandates all the contact info you must include in any commercial solicitation you send....

Back to the point.... courts often hold that agreements that are onesided in nature, or lack "offer" and "acceptance" which most TOS and Privacy Policies do.... aren't legally enforceable because your end user didn't have the ability to negotiate his end of the deal and was forced to "take it or leave it..." there are ofter various articles on these type of things on OverLawyered.com and News.Cnet.com....

Anyway... without getting into way too much detail, I think you are safe just coming up with the best "CYA" provisions you can with the knowledge that if someone wants to sue... they may not really hold up anyway.... you are welcome to "steal" and adapt the terms/privacy policy I use on my homepage if it will suit your purposes.... or just Google around for a basic template.....

__________________
Offensive t-shirts - Coming Soon -> Retro 80s t-shirts

 

Reply With Quote

spiritualiteez01

Thanks so much! yeah, it seems that everyone is just trying to cover their "arse". ( seems some are bigger than others! ha ha ) I have copied from a variety of other retail/e-commerce sites from the portfolio of sites my web designer provided. Many moons ago I was an insurance agent - this probably explains my paranoia! Thanks again!

 

Reply With Quote

Solmu

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnnyMo I'm honestly not sure there are any real "laws" on the books about requirements for a Privacy Policy, or TOS

There are in Australia, and I'd bet there are in America (I know there are related laws - like advertising and spamming laws - plus it's just incredibly likely). It's mostly standard stuff about what information you can collect, what you can do with it, etc. - mostly pretty common sense/standard good business ethics.

I believe in the US the Child Protection Act means you can't collect personal information of anyone under 13 for example - not likely to be a problem, but relevant all the same.

I do agree that TOS, Privacy Policy, etc. isn't particularly important. Whether you have one or not, people are protected by the same laws - it's not really up to you and what you say in your policies, you are bound by law.

...but there are laws in place that stop you from doing whatever you want with the information you collect. So if you wanted to do something whacky, it might not be possible.

__________________
Ceci n'est pas une autographe.

 

Reply With Quote

spiritualiteez01

Hey, thanks for the advice. not planning on anything wacky, just selling t-shirts! i think I'm going to copy from one of the big guys - hopefully they've got the $ to pay the lawyers to get it right! Thanks, Cheryl

 

Reply With Quote