Hosts Becomming Lazy | Copying TOS

[Thorny]

Hello there,

i have just been visiting some websites, some that you may know, others that you may not, i aint gonna disclose them here though... Anyway upon taking a careful read of a few Hosting providers TOS i have noticed that many of them are copied, since when did hosts get this lazy, i mean all i did was copy part of the TOS from one site and walla googled it, about 4 sites in total came up with the same TOS... i mean come on, one site was stupid enough even to leave another sites name in the TOS, what are you guys's opinions on this sort of behavior

[Eclouds]

There are thousands of websites made just to generate TOS pages.

[GeekRack]

Not mention services such as hostlegal etc that sale templates.

[Thorny]

Maybe so but maybe this isnt right? I thought that a TOS was individual to the company using it and all it's subsidories.... correct me if im wrong though...

[GeekRack]

Its completely legal to sale templates and or generate a TOS it just depends on what the host would like to do as far as their TOS goes.

[Decker]

There are only so many laws, terms, conditions, etc. that would apply so it's obvious they're going to pretty much look the same or even be word for word in some cases.

Forgetting to change the name though is just a sign of a complete muppet :D

[TSO]

It's one of those, "Proceed at your own risk!" type of things. Ideally, every host would have a custom-written TOS for its service, that is deemed 100% applicable in its jurisdiction. However, that also costs a lot! :P

[DavidsAwesome]

Some hosts allow you to copy their TOS.... not something I'd advise though. Its better in the end to get a lawyer to write it or use hostlegal or something... I don't have that kind of money though, I got mine off a free site, then completely re-wrote just about everything.

[~ServerPoint~]

Most of web hosting companies create their TOS on hopes that no one will read them at all. As rule customers start reading TOS after any argument wirh web histing company he has sites hosted with.

[jovis]

Most of web hosting companies create their TOS on hopes that no one will read them at all. As rule customers start reading TOS after any argument wirh web histing company he has sites hosted with.
That sounds unbelievable, as a host is the first person who should be interested in making his TOS as clear as possible to avoid touchy situations in the future.

[goblin77]

That sounds unbelievable, as a host is the first person who should be interested in making his TOS as clear as possible to avoid touchy situations in the future.
It may happen if the user doesn't read everything very thoughtfully.
When I wanted to sign uo with A2hosting.com, I had read everything thoroughly and only after it I became their client.

[panagirik]

There are well-written legal things: Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, Service Legal Aggrement, Resource Abuse Policy from Ahosting.biz. This aspect is enlightened in a good way. Everything's written plain and clear.

[Cam.]

I always write my own TOS. Not only can it cause legal trouble but then your TOS is likely to be the same as many other hosts.

[jovis]

Even if you write TOS yourself, there are so many terms and general points, that they all look alike.
Goblin are you sure you can tell the difference between ahosting.biz and any other web hosting company's plans?

[TaoPhoenix]

Even if you write TOS yourself, there are so many terms and general points, that they all look alike.
Goblin are you sure you can tell the difference between ahosting.biz and any other web hosting company's plans?

I take a modest look at the TOS of several providers before I choose one. I have in fact found some startling differences between them, enough to be deal-breakers if I don't feel like negotiating with the provider.

[TaoPhoenix]

Most of web hosting companies create their TOS on hopes that no one will read them at all. As rule customers start reading TOS after any argument wirh web histing company he has sites hosted with.

Isn't this why the front page is made as appealing as possible, and the scary clauses are buried under Home/Signup/TOS clause 12?

When studying more than 10 providers a day, it becomes exhausting to figure out whether A's clause of "Activity = logging in every 30 days" is better or worse than B's clause of "Activity = 25 minimum unique visitors per day".

[.Andy]

Isn't this why the front page is made as appealing as possible, and the scary clauses are buried under Home/Signup/TOS clause 12?

When studying more than 10 providers a day, it becomes exhausting to figure out whether A's clause of "Activity = logging in every 30 days" is better or worse than B's clause of "Activity = 25 minimum unique visitors per day".

Depends there is 0 hiddion clauses in our tos. It clearly outlines our practices. Some companys may try to decive people but not all do and infact I'd hope to think more then half don't hide stuff in there tos.

[Meksilon]

Its completely legal to sale templates and or generate a TOS it just depends on what the host would like to do as far as their TOS goes.Actually it isn't legal. In Australia if one business decides to purchase another business; they must write their own policies and are not allowed to simply use the policies the previous owners used. So, if you run a small bakery and you have an employee policy - that cannot be used by the new business owners, they would have to write their own.

I hope this helps.

[GeekRack]

I believe you meant to say that its illegal in Australia. Fortunately not everyone has to conform to Australlian law..

[Meksilon]

I believe you meant to say that its illegal in Australia. Fortunately not everyone has to conform to Australlian law..
Yes, and now we could get into a discussion about which one us lives in a country with the 2nd highest minimum wage laws among developed countries; and which of us lives in a country with one of the lowest. We could then discuss which of us lives in a country where the media isn't 90%+ owned by the single corporation and has laws to prevent it.

While you make a legally valid point for non-Australians, you ignore the fact that I feel the Australian laws in business are a global de-facto standard which foreign countries should aspire to.

Had we had the discussion we may have had about minimum wage, and media ownership - we would have reached a common agreement stating that a business has responsibilities; and as such those responsibilities can be defined by law so that everyone understands their responsibilities and so that a high standard is set for everyone. One of those standards is that every business is fully responsible to understand all their business policies; and as such the law has been used as a tool to ensure this responsibility is met in requiring that businesses create their own policies rather then inheriting them from another business.

Speaking on a personal level, I have been shocked to see webhosts on this forum offer their hosting in response to requests posted in the requests forum which violate their own terms of service! Such a thing should be impossible for any law-abiding Australian business.

[GeekRack]

Yes, and now we could get into a discussion about which one us lives in a country with the 2nd highest minimum wage laws among developed countries; and which of us lives in a country with one of the lowest. We could then discuss which of us lives in a country where the media isn't 90%+ owned by the single corporation and has laws to prevent it.

What does this information have anything to do with the topic at hand? While random facts are appreciated; they definitely aren't needed.



While you make a legally valid point for non-Australians, you ignore the fact that I feel the Australian laws in business are a global de-facto standard which foreign countries should aspire to.

The world is bigger than Australia, stop being so naive.



Had we had the discussion we may have had about minimum wage, and media ownership - we would have reached a common agreement stating that a business has responsibilities; and as such those responsibilities can be defined by law so that everyone understands their responsibilities and so that a high standard is set for everyone. One of those standards is that every business is fully responsible to understand all their business policies; and as such the law has been used as a tool to ensure this responsibility is met in requiring that businesses create their own policies rather then inheriting them from another business.

Speaking on a personal level, I have been shocked to see webhosts on this forum offer their hosting in response to requests posted in the requests forum which violate their own terms of service! Such a thing should be impossible for any law-abiding Australian business.

Again, what does this have to do with the thread at hand? Stay on topic or open a different thread for random facts and personal blurbs.

[Meksilon]

I thought my post was very clear - perhaps not entirely concise, but you get that. I'll paraphrase what I was saying...

If you and I sat down and talked about business for 16hrs straight, at some point we would have reached common agreements on definitions - we may still disagree about how they relate to other things, or should be enforced, but we would have made some definition each of us agree with. One of those definitions would be that both you and I would agree that Business A is obligated to understand all of their polices that they themselves publish and expect their clients/customers/employees etc to abide by.

In your post you said "fortunately not everyone has to conform to Australian law". As I mentioned in the above post, you are welcome to your opinion - but I feel the law as it stands is there in place to ensure that Business A understands all the policies they require agreement for from others, which as I mentioned I'm sure you would agree is their responsibility as they are their policies.