Terms and Conditions/ Privacy Policies: The Cliff Notes

Most of us probably don't read the 8+ pages of terms, conditions and privacy policies when we start a social networking profile. Who has time for that? Unfortunately, you should spend the time and read all terms and conditions before starting a profile to see what you are getting yourself into. Also, check the terms and conditions frequently- all these websites have the right to change the terms anytime they want. We have taken the liberty of reading the terms, conditions and privacy policies of Myspace, Facebook and Twitter and presented the basics to you.

Myspace

• Myspace does not own any of the “content” users put on the website BUT “By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content on or through the MySpace Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com a limited license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content solely on and through the MySpace Services.”
• “The license you grant to MySpace.com is non-exclusive (meaning you are free to license your Content to anyone else in addition to MySpace.com), fully-paid and royalty-free (meaning that MySpace.com is not required to pay you for the use on the MySpace Services of the Content that you post), sublicensable (so that MySpace.com is able to use its affiliates and subcontractors such as Internet content delivery networks to provide the MySpace Services), and worldwide (because the Internet and the MySpace Services are global in reach). This license will terminate at the time you remove your Content from the MySpace Services.”
• Also noted in all caps: “EACH OF THE PARTIES HEREBY KNOWINGLY VOLUNTARILY AND INTENTIONALLY WAIVES ANY RIGHT IT MAY HAVE TO A TRIAL BY JURY IN RESPECTO OF ANY LITIGATION”

• “This Privacy Policy describes MySpace’s use and sharing of personally identifiable information (“PII”-- your full name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, or credit card number) as well as data that can, under certain circumstances, indirectly lead to PII (“Related Data”) that Members voluntarily provide to MySpace when they register”

• “Please be aware that your Profile Information, as well as any information posted to any public forum, can be accessed by the public. Profile Information located on private profiles can be accessed by MySpace at all times and, in limited cases, by certain third parties authorized by MySpace for purposes of ensuring compliance with MySpace’s Terms of Use.”
• “MySpace may share your PII and Related Data with those who help us manage or provide MySpace Services’ information activities (for example., message board administration, order fulfillment, statistical analyses, data processing), or with outside contractors, agents or sponsors who help us with the administration, judging and prize fulfillment aspects of contests, promotions and sweepstakes.”
• “MySpace may customize the advertising and marketing messages you receive on the MySpace Website, or may work with outside companies to do so. Your Related Data, non-PII and/or Profile Information may be shared with these companies so this customization can be accomplished.”
• “If you ask MySpace to stop using your PII, MySpace will honor that request while retaining any record of your PII that is necessary to comply with applicable federal, state or local law. “

Facebook

• “We understand you may not want everyone in the world to have the information you share on Facebook; that is why we give you control of your information. Our default privacy settings limit the information displayed in your profile to your networks and other reasonable community limitations that we tell you about.”
• “We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Site. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of User Content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other Users have copied or stored your User Content.”
• “Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (e.g., photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalized experience.”
• “Facebook may use information in your profile without identifying you as an individual to third parties. We do this for purposes such as aggregating how many people in a network like a band or movie and personalizing advertisements and promotions so that we can provide you Facebook. We believe this benefits you. You can know more about the world around you and, where there are advertisements, they're more likely to be interesting to you. For example, if you put a favorite movie in your profile, we might serve you an advertisement highlighting a screening of a similar one in your town. But we don't tell the movie company who you are.
• We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services, Facebook Platform developers and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile. Where such information is used, we generally allow you to specify in your privacy settings that you do not want this to be done or to take other actions that limit the connection of this information to your profile (e.g., removing photo tag links).”
• “Unlike most sites on the Web, Facebook limits access to site information by third party search engine "crawlers" (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask). Facebook takes action to block access by these engines to personal information beyond your name, profile picture, and limited aggregated data about your profile (e.g. number of wall postings).”

Twitter

• “Our primary goals in collecting personally identifiable information are to provide you with the product and services made available through the Site, including, but not limited, to the Service, to communicate with you, and to manage your registered user account, if you have one.”
• “Use of Contact Information In addition, we may use your contact information to market to you, and provide you with information about, our products and services, including but not limited to our Service. If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to receive such information or communications from us, please follow the unsubscribe instructions provided in any of the communications.”
• “Log Data When you visit the Site, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website ("Log Data" ). This Log Data may include information such as your IP address, browser type or the domain from which you are visiting, the web-pages you visit, the search terms you use, and any advertisements on which you click.”
• “Service Providers We engage certain trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to us, including, without limitation, hosting and maintenance, customer relationship, database storage and management, and direct marketing campaigns. We will share your personally identifiable information with these third parties, but only to the extent necessary to perform these functions and provide such services, and only pursuant to binding contractual obligations requiring such third parties to maintain the privacy and security of your data.”
• “Copyright (What's Yours is Yours) We claim no intellectual property rights over the material you provide to the Twitter service. Your profile and materials uploaded remain yours. You can remove your profile at any time by deleting your account. This will also remove any text and images you have stored in the system.”