SourceForge Terms of Service Change, Users Unhappy 444
An email fluttering around a few mailing lists has been submitted in
various forms here today. It's about changes to the SourceForge
terms of service. Some relevant links unclude the
old terms,
new terms,
old privacy statement,
new privacy statement
and
contact for "questions or concerns"
(Patrick McGovern, Site Director). Obviously since SF is owned by the
same parent company as Slashdot, I'm biased and corrupt and you should
ignore my opinions on the subject, but while
I don't particularly like this any more then anyone else, I also
don't think it's the huge deal that others are making of it. Especially
considering projects aren't paying for the free service. You get
what you pay for after all.
I have attached a summary to this article of the changes that are
being called into question if you don't want to do a mental diff
on the links above.
This list was submitted by a few different users and was apparently originally posted to several mailing lists, although I don't know who actually originally wrote it. I just quote it here for reference.
- They can henceforth change the terms without notice, just by posting the new terms on the website. (Currently they are obliged to give 15 days notice by email, a period that we are currently in for this change.)
- They can henceforth remove user accounts without giving a reason. (Currently they are obliged to have a reason, though the set of acceptable reasons is open-ended.)
- They're no longer obliged to make the contents of a deleted account available to its owner. (There was previously a "reasonable effort" clause to that effect.)
- They're no longer obliged to provide notice of changes to the privacy policy, unless the changes are "substantive". (Currently they are obliged to provide notice of any change.)
- The privacy policy is acquiring a disclaimer that amounts to "this is not true". It actually disclaims the entire privacy policy.
I can understand what the controversy is about (Score:5, Funny)
What this basically means is that they reserve the right to call you on the phone at 3 AM and breathe heavily.
It's inevitable (Score:5, Funny)
Anytime you get a wide user base to anything, ranging from a development site to a game site to a bbs or chatroom, if the powers that be add a period to the end of a sentance in thier policies, there will be:
Now, watch the comments here, and have your scorecards ready.
you get what you pay for (Score:2, Funny)
You get what you pay for after all.
An ironic quote coming from someone who supports FREE software.
Coincidence? (Score:4, Funny)
Taco turns Republican (Score:2, Funny)
Ain't it always the case? You start making lots of money and the Republicans start making sense.
Re:hmm (Score:0, Funny)
You get what you pay for? (Score:0, Funny)
You get... wha? (Score:2, Funny)
Something is missing..... (Score:4, Funny)