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A website is effectively private property. Suppose my house had a nice lawn, and I said to the neighborhood kids, "You're welcome to play on my lawn, just clea

by akeefer 16y ago

A website is effectively private property. Suppose my house had a nice lawn, and I said to the neighborhood kids, "You're welcome to play on my lawn, just clean up after yourselves and don't hurt the flowers." Is that reasonable? How about if, instead of communicating that to them, I instead put up a sign to that effect? Is it cool if the kids play on my lawn and mess up my flower bed because they don't like those terms and couldn't negotiate them? Of course not: I've laid out the rules for their usage of my private property, and if they don't like the rules they can do something else with their time. I'm not saying a website should be able to sue you or file criminal complaints if you violate a TOS; I'm just saying that they do have the right to expect you to abide by them if you choose to use the site. They should be able to behave exactly as a restaurant does: kick you out if you violate them, and file criminal complaints only if you actually do something criminal (cause damage, steal stuff, abuse staff, etc.). Whether or not a TOS is criminally enforceable is a long ways away from your argument, which I interpreted as essentially saying that breaking/ignoring a TOS isn't any sort of ethical violation because it's not a countersigned negotiated contract.

ars 16y ago
A website is not like private property. And even if it was, a TOS would be invalid on private property. You can SAY don't mess up flowers, but you can't endorse it. The only rights you have are those given by state law, your TOS is nothing. Suppose you put up a sign that says: "If you mess up the flowers you must replant them." Those words are meaningless. You simply do not have the power to do that. You can sue for damages, but only because state law says so. What you wrote on the sign is meaningless. A TOS is totally invalid, and you can ignore it entirely. Both on a website, and on private property. The only rights you have are those given to you by state law. Unless you sign a contact of course. But you can't create a contract merely because someone came to your house, or to your website.

by akeefer 16y ago

ars 16y ago

A website is not like private property. And even if it was, a TOS would be invalid on private property. You can SAY don't mess up flowers, but you can't endorse it. The only rights you have are those given by state law, your TOS is nothing. Suppose you put up a sign that says: "If you mess up the flowers you must replant them." Those words are meaningless. You simply do not have the power to do that. You can sue for damages, but only because state law says so. What you wrote on the sign is meaningless. A TOS is totally invalid, and you can ignore it entirely. Both on a website, and on private property. The only rights you have are those given to you by state law. Unless you sign a contact of course. But you can't create a contract merely because someone came to your house, or to your website.