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>This is one of the few area where the government, meaning you and I, NEEDS to step up and protect the citizens. I agree that regulation is necessary here, but

by ahoy 9y ago

>This is one of the few area where the government, meaning you and I, NEEDS to step up and protect the citizens. I agree that regulation is necessary here, but I'm fascinated that you think tech/data privacy is a special case. Businesses in all sorts of industries are prone to abusing and mistreating people.

watertom 9y ago
I single out tech/data because of the insidiousness nature of the situation. Take a look at the Terms of service for Grammerly as an example: By uploading or entering any User Content, you give Grammarly (and those it works with) a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully-paid, transferable and sublicensable, perpetual, and irrevocable license to copy, store and use your User Content (and, if you are an Authorized User, your Enterprise Subscriber’s User Content) in connection with the provision of the Software and the Services and to improve the algorithms underlying the Software and the Services. IF you have Grammerly plugin in your browser they capture EVERYTHING you type into a browser, and you've given them all of the rights to that data, for which they can sublicense at fee. I can't think of a non tech/data situation that has the breadth and reach that tech/data area's have.
- thinkmilitant 9y ago
  "IF you have Grammerly plugin in your browser they capture EVERYTHING you type into a browser, and you've given them all of the rights to that data, for which they can sublicense at fee." While it does seem like their TOS gives them the legal out to do this, is it not more likely that this is merely a CYA measure to cover any data they happen to collect and any way they happen to use it? If their TOS narrowly covered only the data they planned to collect and the uses they expected to have for it I would imagine every change to their code would become a potential legal liability.
  - watertom 9y ago
    I actually spoke to them because people at my company were using Grammerly, and every bit of data that was typed into a browser is going right to them and they in fact do have a sub-license to the content. It's not joke. Any company that has employees using Grammmerly is pouring data out of their company, and what's worse is that nobody knows it's happening.

by ahoy 9y ago

watertom 9y ago

I single out tech/data because of the insidiousness nature of the situation. Take a look at the Terms of service for Grammerly as an example: By uploading or entering any User Content, you give Grammarly (and those it works with) a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully-paid, transferable and sublicensable, perpetual, and irrevocable license to copy, store and use your User Content (and, if you are an Authorized User, your Enterprise Subscriber’s User Content) in connection with the provision of the Software and the Services and to improve the algorithms underlying the Software and the Services. IF you have Grammerly plugin in your browser they capture EVERYTHING you type into a browser, and you've given them all of the rights to that data, for which they can sublicense at fee. I can't think of a non tech/data situation that has the breadth and reach that tech/data area's have.

thinkmilitant 9y ago
"IF you have Grammerly plugin in your browser they capture EVERYTHING you type into a browser, and you've given them all of the rights to that data, for which they can sublicense at fee." While it does seem like their TOS gives them the legal out to do this, is it not more likely that this is merely a CYA measure to cover any data they happen to collect and any way they happen to use it? If their TOS narrowly covered only the data they planned to collect and the uses they expected to have for it I would imagine every change to their code would become a potential legal liability.
- watertom 9y ago
  I actually spoke to them because people at my company were using Grammerly, and every bit of data that was typed into a browser is going right to them and they in fact do have a sub-license to the content. It's not joke. Any company that has employees using Grammmerly is pouring data out of their company, and what's worse is that nobody knows it's happening.