3 ms·

There's the other part of their TOS though: "You will not collect or harvest (or permit anyone else to collect or harvest) any User Content (as defined below)

by kemayo 5y ago

There's the other part of their TOS though: "You will not collect or harvest (or permit anyone else to collect or harvest) any User Content (as defined below) or any non-public or personally identifiable information about another User or any other person or entity without their express prior written consent." That seems way stronger in forbidding the exact purpose of this site. (With the privacy/publicity/confidentiality rights sometimes applying, but only to specific reports.)

pyuser583 5y ago
In summary, the part being violated is: “You will not collect any PII about any entity without their consent.” There’s probably an implied “You will not use this service to collect …” at the start. So basically, you can’t host a portal to gather PII on non-consenting parties. It would be pretty easy for the website to get around that. The website asked for the contact info of the user and then had a textarea field with the caption “If applicable: Do you have information about potential violations of the Texas Heartbeat Act?” All they would have to do is change that textarea into a Yes/No radio button. Edit: confusingly, it said, “we will not follow up or contact you” but also asked the best time to contact you.
- kemayo 5y ago
  Having not read the full TOS and all its definitions, I'll agree that would likely get around GoDaddy's objection. GoDaddy could maybe argue that the fundamental purpose of the website was still to facilitate gathering that data, but that seems more of a stretch. "You are using our servers to gather this forbidden data" vs "you are using our servers to gather this allowed data, which will later be used to gather forbidden data elsewhere"... I'd guess that the reason the website doesn't want to make this change would be that it'd greatly increase their own costs in terms of followup they'd have to perform. Makes it a more high-touch operation.
  - pyuser583 5y ago
    I get the impression the website isn’t being run by professionals. As I mentioned, it promises not to contact you, and then asks the best time to contact you. Not exactly high caliber user research going on there. I also get the impression it’s more about get names they can hit up for donations. Notice how it asks if the “reporter” is already involved in anti-abortion movement. That’s probably to avoid duplicates when they add the name to their mailing list asking for money.
  - pyuser583 5y ago
    On another matter, I doubt GoDaddy cares if you collect PII, just not on its infrastructure. The last thing it wants is a security breach, followed by an obligation to inform all of the affect parties who reside in California and the EU.

by kemayo 5y ago

pyuser583 5y ago

In summary, the part being violated is: “You will not collect any PII about any entity without their consent.” There’s probably an implied “You will not use this service to collect …” at the start. So basically, you can’t host a portal to gather PII on non-consenting parties. It would be pretty easy for the website to get around that. The website asked for the contact info of the user and then had a textarea field with the caption “If applicable: Do you have information about potential violations of the Texas Heartbeat Act?” All they would have to do is change that textarea into a Yes/No radio button. Edit: confusingly, it said, “we will not follow up or contact you” but also asked the best time to contact you.

kemayo 5y ago
Having not read the full TOS and all its definitions, I'll agree that would likely get around GoDaddy's objection. GoDaddy could maybe argue that the fundamental purpose of the website was still to facilitate gathering that data, but that seems more of a stretch. "You are using our servers to gather this forbidden data" vs "you are using our servers to gather this allowed data, which will later be used to gather forbidden data elsewhere"... I'd guess that the reason the website doesn't want to make this change would be that it'd greatly increase their own costs in terms of followup they'd have to perform. Makes it a more high-touch operation.
- pyuser583 5y ago
  I get the impression the website isn’t being run by professionals. As I mentioned, it promises not to contact you, and then asks the best time to contact you. Not exactly high caliber user research going on there. I also get the impression it’s more about get names they can hit up for donations. Notice how it asks if the “reporter” is already involved in anti-abortion movement. That’s probably to avoid duplicates when they add the name to their mailing list asking for money.
- pyuser583 5y ago
  On another matter, I doubt GoDaddy cares if you collect PII, just not on its infrastructure. The last thing it wants is a security breach, followed by an obligation to inform all of the affect parties who reside in California and the EU.