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What are thee most important things to put in your TOS and AUP
I'm trying to write these 2 things and want to cover all my bases.
Thanks
Laci
Hmmm... long list. You'll want to include a good list of what is and is not allowed. Your host should have a TOS/AUP... make sure you include their restrictions in your document... as you have to make your customers adhere to your providers rules.
Pretty much, you'll need a disclaimer that states that you can cancel hosting for violation of TOS/AUP or for whatever reason you deem neccessary. That way, if someone finds a way around you have your legal bases covered.
Also, you'll want to include a statement about loss of revenue/sales. Something like "ABCHost is not responsible for any loss of revenue/business resulting from any disruption of service, data loss, etc."
That way you can't get sued if they think you're responsible when the server goes down. They all go down sooner or later.
Hmmm, what else... not sure. You're welcome to take a look at ours to see what we've got in there... :)
Originally posted by beley:
Hmmm... long list. You'll want to include a good list of what is and is not allowed. Your host should have a TOS/AUP... make sure you include their restrictions in your document... as you have to make your customers adhere to your providers rules.
Pretty much, you'll need a disclaimer that states that you can cancel hosting for violation of TOS/AUP or for whatever reason you deem neccessary. That way, if someone finds a way around you have your legal bases covered.
Also, you'll want to include a statement about loss of revenue/sales. Something like "ABCHost is not responsible for any loss of revenue/business resulting from any disruption of service, data loss, etc."
That way you can't get sued if they think you're responsible when the server goes down. They all go down sooner or later.
Hmmm, what else... not sure. You're welcome to take a look at ours to see what we've got in there... :)
yours is very complete , I like the part about people under 18..and requireing more info before you open the account.
Ive saved it to my computer so I can make sure I cover all the topics I wont just re publish it
Thanks:)
Laci
You can grab mine and use some of it if needed.
Just make sure after you edit it or take parts from it that you have an attorney at least look it over and give their stamp.
You might be able to use/modify your upstream provider's TOS/AUP if they have a good one. You'll need to comply with it anyways.
Rob-Bocacom
07-10-03, 05:06 PM
When we were working on ours, I had copies of about 15 or 20 other company’s policies and laid them all out on a big table. I highlighted each with the sections I wanted to make sure were covered in ours and then made an outline of all those topics. I took the best of them all and rewrote to try to best fit our needs. I did not outright copy anyone, but it was amazing how many sections were identical between companies that are not affiliated in any way.
When I finally finished, after umpteen rewrites, it went off to the lawyer where some was edited, some was deleted, and a lot more was added. I would recommend finding a lawyer familiar with the business, as some of the sections that ours added were just stupid. There was one section that said we pretty much had the right to discontinue service whenever we felt like it, yeah, that’ll go over well…
The whole process probably took 2 months (obviously not full time). So after telling you all this, my $.02 is…don't reinvent the wheel... look at others to get a list of the must-haves and then give your upstream provider’s docs (assuming they don’t mind) to an internet savvy lawyer along with any of those must-have items you identified, if any are missing. There have been some topics on lawyer recommendations in “that other” forum, I don’t remember seeing any here, but you could ask.
Good luck.
I am working on a script for a site where you would login and just fill out fields. It would then generate the AUP or TOS for you on the fly. You should then take that doc to an attorney for review and final sign off, but at least it would give you a starting point.
Originally posted by tranz:
I am working on a script for a site where you would login and just fill out fields. It would then generate the AUP or TOS for you on the fly. You should then take that doc to an attorney for review and final sign off, but at least it would give you a starting point. That sounds like a great service, be sure to let us know when it's working! :)
Thanks,
Other forms that will be there are Design agreements, development contracts, dedicated server agreements and colo agreements.
I have been working on the agreements with our attorney and hated having to go in and edit them with a new clients info. I started building forms where I could just enter the info into the fields that I needed to and have it generate on the fly the completed format that I needed, mostly PDF.
My wife thought that it might be a good little service that us in the hosting, dedicated, design, colo and managed solutions industries could use. We would create new docs and just keep adding them to the mix.
Our attorney kinda got freaked out that someone would take our docs as litteral and not have them looked at by a local attorney and somehow something happens and they try and come after us for the creation of the doc. So he took the time to write a custom TOS and that yes, we will provide the docs as a base to start from but take no liability if they are not further looked over, edited and signed off on by an attorney and litgation should happen, we are protected.
What you think?
It's a great idea... I'll definately look at it when it's up. Will it be a free or paid service?
Will probably be a small fee, what you think? A membership based system or just a use it and pay system?
What do you think a good price for the functionality and the generation of the docs should be. Membership? and, or based on each doc designed?
I think it should be somewhat membership based... maybe for $XX someone would have access to the system for a week or month. That way, if they didn't like the initial TOS/AUP they could make changes and regenerate a new one.
I think $20 is a good price, maybe a little less. If it was a very thorough system I would pay that for a good TOS/AUP...
Chicken
07-10-03, 09:59 PM
Originally posted by tranz:
I am working on a script...
Will probably be a small fee, what you think? A membership based system or just a use it and pay system?
What do you think a good price for the functionality and the generation of the docs should be. Membership? and, or based on each doc designed?
Please continue this in *ahem* the ad forums. :D
sorry chicken wasnt trying to hijack the thread.
KualoJo
07-11-03, 06:17 AM
I would also recommend that you don't JUST rely on your TOS or AUP. Do yourselves all a favor and get some Liability Insurance. It will probably only cost you a couple of hundred dollars a year depending on things such as turnover and number of employees etc. but should someone decide to sue you for a lot of money, and should your TOS not stand up in court, then at least you have some form of protection. You may think you're covered with your TOS, but should someone pick something away and your TOS falls flat on its face then you will count your lucky stars that you are insured!
Jo
Originally posted by KualoJo:
I would also recommend that you don't JUST rely on your TOS or AUP. Do yourselves all a favor and get some Liability Insurance. It will probably only cost you a couple of hundred dollars a year depending on things such as turnover and number of employees etc. but should someone decide to sue you for a lot of money, and should your TOS not stand up in court, then at least you have some form of protection. You may think you're covered with your TOS, but should someone pick something away and your TOS falls flat on its face then you will count your lucky stars that you are insured!
Jo
that sounds like good advice ....where would I find such insurance just call an insurance agent or is there a certin company you would go with?
KualoJo
07-17-03, 06:32 AM
Originally posted by Laci:
that sounds like good advice ....where would I find such insurance just call an insurance agent or is there a certin company you would go with?
Not sure about where you are from, but an insurance agent should be OK. Call up your local business advice center if you have such a thing near you... or a google search may turn up some results.
Ive been looking over peoples TOS and AUP and they look like they contain the same info....what is supposed to be the difference between a TOS and/or and AUP
I know it sounds silly but I really am confused :eek:
KualoJo
07-17-03, 06:42 AM
Good question. TOS should include things like refund policies, cancellation policies etc. whereas AUP would contain things more related to what is allowed / not allowed on the account. Thats my rough interpretation at least.
To be honest, I don't see the need to separate them really and just combine it into one condition of sale document. It'd probably make it easier for the customer so long as it is laid out well. Maybe even with an index...
Living Media
07-17-03, 07:51 AM
Laci, I did an article about this exact issue in Pingzine #1. :D
TOS and AUP can either be names for two different documents, or sections in one document. Whether you combine or separate is totally up to you. It's largely an organisation issue. (If you do separate them, though, link them - just to make it clear that your clients are agreeing to both.)
TOS - Terms of Service. What happens when, and why. Uptime, space or bandwidth restrictions above and beyond your plans' provisions, server resource usage caps, suspension or account termination, et cetera. Basically: under what conditions will the merchant supply a service? What is the merchant bound to? What is the client bound to?
AUP - Acceptable Use Policy. What use(s) of the service are allowed or disallowed? For a hosting service, you would list banned scripts, illegal activity, content restrictions, and so forth.
It's perfectly possible and acceptable to have a single document and just have all of the information in that. Different hosting companies will use different layouts / setups, whatever works for them. I separated mine because of organisation / readability issues. According to the folks I ran the pages past (read: very very informal usability testing) the content was easier to read and digest when separated out into two documents.
EDIT: Also, when combined, some hosting companies call the document a TOS. Some call it an AUP. Some call it a client agreement. Some call it something else. What matters most is that:
* it contains all the basic information needed to protect and inform both the merchant and the consumer
* it is easily identifiable and easy to find
* it is clearly required reading / agreement as part of the registration process
That covers the difference between the two. I personally would be very leery of this script that churns out legal documents for a small fee because knowing and understanding what your own client agreement says is very very important. If you can't explain it, how can you expect to enforce it? And so on. Having the documents pre-made can mean that some folks (not all, but some) will just pay, download the text, put it on their site, and not really understand what they are agreeing to.
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