Re: UKNM: Terms & Conditions

[Duncan Clubb]

Richard


I have just had to address the same issue - putting up reams of legalese

that nobody will ever read.  Our lawyers have informed us that there are

a few reasons, but they mostly revolve around compliance with financial

regulatory bodies and the possibility of IPO-ing.  During any form of

public offering, there will be a verification and due diligence process,

and our T&C's have been included to show that we are making best efforts

to inform users as to their rights, etc.  Given that the site in

question comes under SEC rules and is offering a financially-based

product, this sounds fair enough.  I am under the impression that web

pages are not considered as legal documents in any courts yet, and I

have heard that some US sites are being sued by users, despite having

what might be considered sufficient online documentation which should

have negated their claims, so they may not actually serve the direct

legal purpose for which they are intended, but they still have a place

in the regulatory and compliance realms. Ads are hardly legal docs, but

they still come covered with warnings if they are financially (and other

professional services) related, after all.


My own attitude is that it is probably worth having this stuff on a site

(if only to keep lawyers happy), but not in a way that thrusts it in a

users face and forces them to click on a button to acknowledge that they

have read it before continuing - this can only affect the users'

experience of the site, even if only marginally, and surely cannot make

any difference to the legal status.  I have heard some marketers claim

that forcing users to jump through a T&C hoop reinforces the security

element of their brand values, but I'm not that convinced about that

one.


Still, it would be good to hear from some real lawyers on the subject,

especially those with experience in the states.


Aye

duncan


Richard Longhurst wrote:

 > 

 > At the risk of posting the most boring message to UKNM since the last time

 > somebody asked for a breakdown of browser useage, what do people think of the

 > Terms & Conditions that come attached to so very many Web sites?

 > 

<SNIP>

 > Clearly, no bugger's going to read this stuff, so what's it all for? Does it have

 > any legal standing? Any lawyers on the list? Hello? Anyone there?

 > 

 > Richard (busily finding something better to do)

 > 

 > --

 > Richard Longhurst - 2020Shops soon - Rich Clickings -

 > http://www.richclickings.co.uk/

 > The best shops and most useful sites for UK Net users

 >

Send 'subscribe richclickings' to majordomorichclickings [dot] co [dot] uk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

post new media vacancies for free

uknm-jobschinwag [dot] com

 				*******************

 sponsor the uk-netmarketing list and website, contact

saleschinwag [dot] com

 for more details.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

http://www.chinwag.com/uk-netmarketing or

helpchinwag [dot] com