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> Anyway, this is a warning to all of us. No matter what promises that honest startup gives you, the minute they are sold (and most sell in the end) the new own
by claudius 11y ago
> Anyway, this is a warning to all of us. No matter what promises that honest startup gives you, the minute they are sold (and most sell in the end) the new owners are free to do whatever they like with your 'private' information. In fact it will be hawked in the marketplace like a chicken.
Is that really the case in the US? In Germany, I don’t see why simply transferring ownership of the data should not also transfer ownership of the agreements bound to that data. If I agree to let company X use my data for purpose A under terms T and company Y buys company X, in my view company Y would still be bound to stick to terms T and purpose A. Otherwise any leaked/stolen and subsequently published personal data could be used by anyone for anything…
- spydum 11y agopretty much any agreement by major companies comes with a wonderful disclaimer of something like this: We reserve the right to revise, amend, or modify this Agreement and any other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner. We may modify this Agreement by placing a notice of such modification on our website, and User's continued use of the Service following notice of such modification shall be deemed to be User's acceptance of any such modification. User agrees to check this on-line area regularly to determine whether this Agreement has been modified. If User does not agree to any modification of this Agreement, User must immediately stop using the Service.
- Vespasian 11y agoStill if you actually stop using the service (aka not longer subscribing or logging in) that shouldn't grant them any more rights on data from the past. However IANAL so I might be wrong here.
- XJOKOLAT 11y agoIf I had a duplicate me, it would be spending time campaigning for a change in exactly this type of disclaimer. The default setting of anything like this should opt you out and seek re-confirmation. volcanic erupts
- TheOtherHobbes 11y agoSo if you bought a battery and never visited a Radio Shack store or website again, you would not - in fact - have made any express or implied agreement to accept the modification, and the original agreement would apply. This sounds like something an aggressive lawyer could have some fun with.
- tsotha 11y agoThe ability of the company to modify the agreement without your approval or knowledge is written into the agreement. It basically does nothing at all from a legal perspective.
- chopin 11y agoThis clause would be invalid in Germany. It even could void the contract entirely making any use of the customer data illegal. Changing contracts needs explicitly expressed consent here.
- Shivetya 11y agoits no so much what new owners want to do its that bankruptcy courts discharge more than debt, the discharge liability, prior agreements, and more.
- crusso 11y agoThe US has a different notion of who owns personal data than Germany or Europe in general. In the US, the collector of your personal data owns it, more or less. Notice that in this case, the FTC is attempting to use the court's approval of the sale of Radio Shack's assets in order to force restrictions on the use of the personal data. That's because they couldn't use virtually non-existent personal data protection laws.
- JupiterMoon 11y agoAre US companies going to respect German laws?
- claudius 11y agoNo, which is why one should prefer not to have business relations with US companies.
- JupiterMoon 11y agoHard to avoid gmail though. Even if your email is with someone else roughly half of what one ends up sending goes to an @gmail address...