automattic / legalmattic

Democratizing WordPress.com legalese since 2014!

Legalmattic

Democratizing WordPress.com legalese since 2014

What is this?

This is the source of several "legal documents" on WordPress.com, including the Terms of Service. We'd like our legal documents to embody our vision of the spirit of the web--open and accessible.

What can I do with it?

Since these documents are licensed under a Creative Commons license (see below for more information), please feel free to re-use and edit these terms to fit your own use. We do ask for a link back so we can help share the source of this license and spread the word further.

If you notice any typos or would like to suggest any changes, please contribute a pull request.

License

As noted in our license file, the content here is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Please feel free to make alterations via pull-request.

Other Projects

As well as these open source "legal documents" we also have open sourced other legal related projects including:

• EU Cookie Law Widget - A WordPress plugin which provides a Widget to help with EU Cookie Law compliance.

Footnotes and Miscellany

• Automattic Transparency Report
• Blog post on why we open sourced our DMCA documentation

legalmattic's Issues

Other languages (e.g. Spanish) available?

I see the TOS available in Spanish at http://es.wordpress.com/tos/ but I don't see the Spanish language version available here on Github.

Please explain how the Spanish version is served up (text available somewhere to be added here or some automatic translator that generates it)?

Unify the term "website"

Currently there are 3 instances of word "web site" in the Terms of service. All other instances are "website" ~50 of them. It would be more consistent to use one term.

neewssye

<script data-ad-client="ca-pub-3323000640414787" async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

Add linkable section IDs for easy linking to specific sections of the TOS and privacy policy

It would greatly improve usability if the TOS and Privacy Policy included section IDs that are linkable. Given the TOS covers many products, and both consumer and merchant audiences, linking to specific sections is convenient and enables targeted callouts.

Terms of Service - use of undefined "our services"

In several places in the Terms of Service, the words "our services" are used in which services is not capitalized. For example, in the first terms of service paragraph we see:

By accessing or using any part of our services, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access or use any of our services.

I believe the word services in "our services" should be capitalized in this context, as it is a defined term.

There are other sections in which I noticed this issue as well, so it's worth evaluating the whole document.

Again, the usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

Incorrect hyperlink

Hello,

The commit for the updated terms of services located here references a blog article at the very top however the hyperlink for it is incorrect. The date is off by 1 day. It has the 13th when it should be the 14th..
This is the link the commit has:
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2018/05/13/new-privacy-features-and-updated-policies

When it should be:
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2018/05/14/new-privacy-features-and-updated-policies

kind regards

Wordpress

Privacy Policy - Inconsistent Use of Oxford Commas

Throughout the privacy policy, the Oxford comma is often used (👍), however it does appear to be missing in three places in the "Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information" section. I think the commas should be added for consistency.

For example, the follow segment:

employees, contractors and affiliated organizations

should be:

employees, contractors, and affiliated organizations

A minor change? Yes. Pedantic? Most definitely! :)

Identity theft by imposter 5+ yrs of identity fraud imposter gained all my data from his dad, ex employer they enrolled in swift developer program using my name and emails. I only have one device they have multiple I found all their way in but now with a developers license, their laundering money amongst other illegal activities. I've tried to report on this, but most the time it just goes right straight back to them. I'm looking for an ally to help me so we can make the web more secure please thank WordPress. I've been wanting to start a business and get the HTTP estimate make me more secure John Taylor, Irwin the son invaded my phone and I had to be rude and shut everything down. I apologize I have more data to back up everything they're trying to scare me intimidate me I have pictures videos but I'm not gonna release him online. I'll meet with a person in individual. I can't trust nothing these individuals need to be incarcerated I know I'm not the only victim

I do apologize five years of abuse and trying to report on it. I'm frustrated I was hoping to receive some help from someone.i will hand over all data only in person it will solve a lot of problems in the web community

Rename "WooCommerce Payments" to "WooPayments"

Our public TOS has lots of instances of "WooCommerce Payments." However, we have recently rebranded to "WooPayments" so we should probably change the TOS content to match?

Hello~. Nice to meet you.

Let's safely use smartphones, etc. 😀🙂 ; 스마트기기 안전하게 사용합시다. 장문이네요. 😀🙂

Long sentence~. Safely life. 😀🙂; 긴 문장이네요. 안전하게 생활합시다. 😀🙂

Hello~. 처음 와서 보네요~. Pexels.com에 이미지를 써보다가... 공부도 하구요~. 사이트를 만들어서 운영해보고 있습니다. prose-and-code.site. 그냥, 사진의 출처가 그래도, pexels.com에 마이페이지로 다운로드 목록으로 잘 표시되구요. 개인적으로, 글 관련해서, pexels.com사이트를 보면서... 혹시 앞으로 있을 문제들. 워드프레스 역시, DCMA? 잘 확인하지는 않았지만 그런 절차를 통해 해결을 한다고 하구요. 드는 생각 적어봄니다~.

깃헙을 잘 사용하지 않아서... 방금전에 commit에 글 적었는데... (2b25fa6#commitcomment-124976508)

이슈 글이 맞겠죠. 여기에 다시 적는 군요.

관계가 있는 이유가, 워드프레스에 Privacy policy 형식을 사용할 때, 거기에 있는 템플레이트를 그대로 사용했네요. automattic.com이던가..https://automattic.com/privacy/ 여기로 넘어가고... Github링크가 있는데... 거기에서 들어왔네요. 저작권, 그런 관련 이야기니까, 비슷한 내용이라고 생각해봄니다.

사이트 운영이... 트위터가 있는데... 거기에 아는 사람... 해당하는 사람이 있거나 하면, 안녕. 인사하면서 글을 적고... 또, 사이트에 회원 기능이 없어서... 회원 개인정보를 모으지 않구요. 프로그래밍 이야기를 주로 적고는 하네요. AI 챗을 사용하거나 합니다.

사이트 만든 경험이 없어서, 아직 잘몰라서... 배우고 있습니다. 워드프레스에 템플릿으로 사용할 수 있는, Privacy Policy 파일에, G avatar던가... 해당 기능이, 실제 워드프레스에서 사이트를 만들면, 기본적으로 사용할 수 있는 댓글 기능인가... 전 잘 몰라서... 공부해봐야죠. 저의 문제는, 스프링부트를 사용해서 만들어서... 외국어이기도 하고, 적혀있던 워드프레스의 Privacy Policy를 그대로 사용했거든요. 그런데 댓글 기능은 없었구요. ( I make web site, use spring boot. Web programming language. Java. and I no make comment function. I reading English, hard than. so mistake like this, comment function have on, that privacy policy. ; 영어 번역을 해보고, 헷갈릴 것 같은 부분 다시 적어보네요.)

그래서 사이트를 지웠다가... 다시 올리는 작업을 하고 있습니다. 작업은 끝이 났고... privacy policy를 잘 바꿔서 올려야겠죠. 공부를 더해서, 만들어야겠죠. 공부해보세요.

좋은 하루되세요.

저의 글, 봐 주셔서 감사합니다. Thank you.

Undefined use of the term "Website" in the Terms of Service

In the Terms of Service (specifically EN-Terms-of-Service.md), In section 7, Copyright Infringement and DMCA Policy, the term "the Website" with a capital W is used.

Automattic will terminate a visitor's access to and use of the Website if, under appropriate circumstances, the visitor is determined to be a repeat infringer of the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of Automattic or others.

I believe this may be a holdover from when Website was a defined term in earlier versions of the document. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't claim to be 100% correct in this, but I believe "the Website" should be replaced with "our Services".

Important Sections of Terms of Service?

In the HTML version of the Wordpress Terms of Service, several sections, such as 13 - 16, appear more "important" and are displayed within a yellow container to make them stand out.

Is there a legal significance to this? I am not a lawyer... I believe there may be in the same way that many Terms of Service agreements have all-caps warranty sections. Thus, it would seem the markdown copies in this repository are "missing information" and should probably reflect whatever meaning is being conveyed through the HTML version.

Thoughts?

Add more pseudonyms for Automattic Inc. in Terms of Service

Currently the pseudonyms for Automattic Inc. in the Terms of Service include "Automattic" and "we".

If you reside in the United States or Brazil, your agreement is with Automattic Inc. (US), and if you reside outside of the United States or Brazil, your agreement is with Aut O'Mattic Ltd. (Ireland) (each, "Automattic" or "we").

I think inclusion of "our" and "us" would be more thorough, especially since those terms are used throughout.

If you reside in the United States or Brazil, your agreement is with Automattic Inc. (US), and if you reside outside of the United States or Brazil, your agreement is with Aut O'Mattic Ltd. (Ireland) (each, "Automattic", "we", "our", or "us").

GDPR Updates?

Is Automattic planning to update their Terms of Service and/or Privacy Policy to comply with upcoming GDPR coming into effect soon?

Seeing as there are a lot of questions surrounding interpretations of GDPR and how they affect various small business websites, this looks like an opportunity for Legalmattic to really shine, given the stated goals of this project.

Terms of Service - use of undefined "Terms" and "these Terms"

In the Changes section, the terms of service make reference to "the Terms" in the last sentence.

However, any dispute that arose before the changes shall be governed by the Terms (including the binding individual arbitration clause) that were in place when the dispute arose.

Terms is never defined and thus I don't think it should be capitalized. It should probably be "Terms of Service".

Additionally, in some other places "Terms" is used, but again it is not defined. For example in the VaultPress section:

VaultPress Content. VaultPress will backup your WordPress content (e.g., your WordPress database, plugins, themes, and uploads, as well as some additional files, as described here) ("VaultPress Content"). You can view the Content that VaultPress backs up via your dashboard. You're fully responsible for your VaultPress Content. It's your responsibility to ensure that your website's Content abides by applicable laws and by these Terms. We don't actively review the VaultPress Content.

"these Terms" is used with a capital T here, but in many other places in the Terms of Service, lowercase "these terms" is used. This inconsistency is seen in several places in the document so I'm not sure if the solution is to define Terms and change all of them to uppercase "these Terms" or simply make them all lowercase "these terms".

Again, the usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

Terms of Service - use of undefined "agreement"

In several places in the Terms of Service, the words "this agreement" are used in which agreement is not capitalized. For example, in the first terms of service paragraph we see:

By accessing or using any part of our services, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access or use any of our services.

I believe the word agreement in "this agreement" should be capitalized in this context, as it is a defined term.

There are other sections in which I noticed this issue as well (such as the Limitation of Liability section), so it's worth evaluating the whole document.

Again, the usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

though?

At the very beginning of the Terms of Service it reads:

available at or though these websites

Shouldn't it be available at or through these websites (through, and not though)?

Cheers

Gravitar needs its own terms of service

When we think of Gravitar, we think that once we hook it up it'll stay hooked up.

But some sites apparently use it as a one-time source.

If all sites did that then it would just be like Imgur, not like Gravitar.

pretalx/pretalx#1736

WordPress Plugin version

Definitely appreciate Automattic's open sourcing of their terms. Thanks for that.

I turned it into a plugin in September 2012: http://wordpress.org/plugins/auto-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy/

I've recently updated it to include the ability to fill in the blanks in wp-admin.

Hope you like it.

Upsc

Important

Break up long paragraphs

Although I like the language in the terms and conditions a lot, the structure of the document itself detracts from the accessibility of the terms.

I understand that the convention is large blocks of text instead of more, smaller, and nested paragraphs. At the same time, it would really help if the larger blocks of text are broken up into smaller paragraphs of roughly two sentences each.

Visually, it makes the text look less intimidating and easier to read.

http://example760321521.wordpress.com/

http://example760321521.wordpress.com/