Terms of Service | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Fri, 19 Oct 2018 10:39:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Terms of Service | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Discord’s new terms of service prevents lawsuits in favour of binding arbitration https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/discords-new-terms-of-service-prevents-lawsuits-in-favour-of-binding-arbitration/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/discords-new-terms-of-service-prevents-lawsuits-in-favour-of-binding-arbitration/#respond Fri, 19 Oct 2018 10:39:20 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=391490 Discord has issued an update to its terms of service that “significantly affect” its users’ legal rights, requiring regulars to waive their right to file a lawsuit – including larger class-action litigations. The platform insists that this isn’t to downplay its responsibilities, but instead to resolve issues in-house via arbitration if problems escalate. The new …

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Discord has issued an update to its terms of service that “significantly affect” its users’ legal rights, requiring regulars to waive their right to file a lawsuit – including larger class-action litigations. The platform insists that this isn’t to downplay its responsibilities, but instead to resolve issues in-house via arbitration if problems escalate.

The new terms sit under the Dispute Resolution and Class Action Waiver sections of Discord’s terms of service. The first part is to ensure that all parties “use their best efforts to settle any dispute, claim, question, or disagreement directly through consultation with one another,” while the second forces “binding arbitration” should a dispute intensify.

This will be the new protocol for anything other than “disputes concerning patents, copyrights, moral rights, trademarks, and trade secrets and claims of piracy or unauthorized use of the Site,” which will “not be subject to arbitration.”

Discord is set to initiate its new terms of service from October 23rd, 2018. Users will be opted in by default, however individual lawsuits are still supposedly possible should the user manually opt-out. Within the first 30 days, Discord will be accepting emails from its ‘arbitration-opt-out@discord.com‘ address, but it’s worth noting that it doesn’t look like this applies to the platform’s clause about class-action suits.

“I want to be clear that we're not doing this to dodge responsibility for anything. We believe in doing right by you, and we take feedback into account (see the recent Nitro Classic changes).” Discord explains within a Reddit thread.

“The reason that there's an arbitration agreement in our Terms of Service is that there have been a continuously increasing raft of class actions and firms that look for companies that are susceptible to class actions. When class actions are successful, the lawyers get millions, and each user gets, on average… anywhere from ten cents to a couple dollars. Sometimes tens of dollars! Maybe a free rideshare,” continues the representative.

“This isn't to persuade you not to opt-out. Reasonable people can disagree on whether or not arbitration is good, or whether or not the class action system is one that is beneficial. If you want to opt-out, you absolutely should,” concludes the note, however it’s worth remembering that arbitration allows Discord to cut costs on both the company’s and the user’s side, allowing for greater compensation.

KitGuru Says: As someone not expertly informed about legal standings, I can’t rightly comment on whether or not this is a good change. What I can say, however, is that self-regulation can be a good thing to prevent arduous cases that drain the legal system of valuable time and money. How do you feel about Discord’s recent change in terms?

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Twitch doesn’t want you streaming Adult Only rated titles https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/twitch-doesnt-want-you-streaming-adult-only-rated-titles/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/twitch-doesnt-want-you-streaming-adult-only-rated-titles/#respond Thu, 28 May 2015 13:56:20 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=251517 Just days before the controversial isometric shooter, Hatred is due to release, Twitch has tightened up its rules on streaming Adult Only ESRB rated games, announcing its new policy over on its official blog. This means that if a game is rated AO by the ESRB in the US, it can't be streamed on Twitch, even …

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Just days before the controversial isometric shooter, Hatred is due to release, Twitch has tightened up its rules on streaming Adult Only ESRB rated games, announcing its new policy over on its official blog. This means that if a game is rated AO by the ESRB in the US, it can't be streamed on Twitch, even if the game received a less harsh rating in other parts of the world.

“Games rated 18+ by other rating systems are fine to stream, so long as they are not rated AO by the ESRB, and they don’t violate the standard language of our RoC and ToS”, the blog post reads.

twitch_logo_purple.0-e1427141695778

However, the blog post does note that ‘Mature' rated games are still fine: “If a game’s US version is rated Adults Only by the ESRB, you should not broadcast that game on Twitch. However, ESRB rated Mature versions of Adults Only titles are permitted for streaming, such as Mature versions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy.”

We don't get that many Adult Only games as most developers or publishers try to avoid the extreme rating. However, this does mean that titles like Hatred, Manhunt 2, the initial release of GTA: San Andreas or any of the other games on this short list of AO games, can no longer be broadcast on Twitch.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Twitch has plenty of rules on its service, including a dress code for broadcasters on camera, so the fact that it doesn't want extreme AO rated games on its service isn't surprising. However, this does mean that Hatred's advertisement campaign will be limited to YouTube, rather than branching out to Twitch, which is gaining more and more popularity. 

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Instagram can sell your photos without telling you https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/instagram-can-sell-your-photos-without-telling-you/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/instagram-can-sell-your-photos-without-telling-you/#comments Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:46:36 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=119415 Instagram, the now Facebook owned image sharing and retro-filtering site, has just changed its terms and conditions, allowing the site to have complete say in what happens with your photos once uploaded. It could use them in adverts or sell them to other organisations, all without telling you a thing. “You acknowledge that we may …

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Instagram, the now Facebook owned image sharing and retro-filtering site, has just changed its terms and conditions, allowing the site to have complete say in what happens with your photos once uploaded. It could use them in adverts or sell them to other organisations, all without telling you a thing.

“You acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such,” the new terms say. This raises concerns over the privacy of not only adults, but those under 18 as well. According to the Telegraph, the new ToS could apply to those as young as 13 and allows for the use of not only a user's photos, but their name, messages and other profile content as part of marketing for the site and its services.

Instagram
Instagram was once the hipster's darling, but will it remain so?

This seems like a method that new owner Facebook is using in order to monetise Instagram, but it's unlikely to leave users with anything but a sour taste in their mouth. Historically as photo sharing sites have introduced unwanted terms of service, they've either dropped them soon after or seen a lot of people flock to the open arms of a competitor.

KitGuru Says: If you use Instagram, do you still plan to keep doing so with this latest change to the ToS? If not, do you plan on using another similar service? Let us know.

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Gabe Newell clarifies class action clause https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/gabe-newell-clarifies-class-action-clause/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/gabe-newell-clarifies-class-action-clause/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2012 11:13:36 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=115274 Head at Valve, Gabe Newell, has expanded on the initial official statement regarding the company's Terms of Service that forced players to agree that they could not take out a class action lawsuit against Valve; apparently it's because lawyers suck. This all came out as part of a 4Chan visit to Valve HQ, where the …

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Head at Valve, Gabe Newell, has expanded on the initial official statement regarding the company's Terms of Service that forced players to agree that they could not take out a class action lawsuit against Valve; apparently it's because lawyers suck.

This all came out as part of a 4Chan visit to Valve HQ, where the intrepid meme makers quizzed Newell on everything from his beard, to those damn ToS agreements.

The move wasn't to protect Valve from its users, Newell Said, but from the lawyers. “There are all these class action lawsuit lawyers who just pop up and… the problem is that it’s asymmetric, so they can basically file a lawsuit against you in federal court and it costs them nothing,” he said. “Then the first thing they say is, ‘Now, you have to do discovery on every single document you’ve ever created in history’. It’s a shakedown.”

Jurassic Park
Now this is how you deal with a lawyer!

He continued, saying that users were still able to sue the company individually and that ultimately: “We’re happy you’re mad at us and you let us know because we’ll do better.”

As has been pointed out by PCGamesN though, individuals can sue all they like, but if Valve were to be hacked and lose everyone's credit card details, a class action suit would be the usual method of recompense for the huge user base. That wouldn't be possible in the current climate.

KitGuru Says: Valve would have to have quite a fall from grace to rile up enough of its users to get a real class action suit going, but a credit card hack could do it. Did these Terms of Service annoy you guys, or did they not bother you much?

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