Current situation with Terms of Use (see also the thread at LEGAL-104)

There are no Apache-approved Terms of Use at this time.

The Oracle Terms of Use cannot be retained.

2012-06-07 - proposed, simplified text for tou

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Consolidated Terms of Use for Apache OpenOffice Websites

The Apache Software Foundation hosts several websites on behalf of the
Apache OpenOffice project:

  • under openoffice.org
  • under incubator.apache.org/openofficeorg
  • under cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS
  • under issues.apache.org/ooo/
  • under blogs.apache.org/ooo/

By your use of these websites you acknowledge that you have read these
Terms and agree to them.

1. Privacy

Information about your use of the websites is collected using server
access logs and a tracking cookie. The collected information consists
of the following:

  • The IP address from which you access the website;
  • The type of browser and operating system you use to access our site;
  • The date and time you access our site;
  • The pages you visit; and
  • The addresses of pages from where you followed a link to our site.

Part of this information is gathered using a tracking cookie set by
the Google Analytics service and handled by Google as described in
their privacy policy . See your browser documentation for instructions
on how to disable the cookie if you prefer not to share this data with
Google.

We use the gathered information to help us make our site more useful
to visitors and to better understand how and when our site is used.

Additionally, some of websites have a user registration systems that
queries you for information such as name, password and email address.
This information is collected, stored and used in order to provide
you a unique login and to associate that login with your activity on
the website. We endeavour keep this information private, but it may
be revealed to a competent authority under a lawful order.

By using this website, you consent to the collection of this data in
the manner and for the purpose described above.

2. User submitted content

By submitting content to the website, you agree that this content may
be hosted on the website, for the benefit of other website users.
Additionally, you agree that your submissions may be edited, modified,
translated, copied, within the website. You warrant that you have
sufficient rights to any content that you submit to the website
necessary to grant the above license.

If you wish to offer a broader license, to allow 3rd parties to reuse
your content outside of this website, then you may do so, provided the
license is compatible with the above requirements. Apache License 2.0
is especially recommended. Please mark the license prominently in
your contribution.

3. Exclusions

The websites at extensions.openoffice.org and templates.openoffice.org
are not operated by the Apache Software Foundation and are not covered
by this Terms.

4. Changes to these Terms

We may change these Terms from time to time. When we make substantive
changes we will also make an announcement on the ooo-announce mailing
list.

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Proposed Intermediate Action

  1. Links to Terms of Use should be removed
  2. The landing page having the current Terms of Use needs to have a placeholder, just in case not all links to it are found.
    1. The page might an introduction stating that there are no current terms of use.
    2. The Oracle terms could be provided for information only to indicate how material was previously accepted and is usable.

Terms of Use for Apache Incubator project openoffice.org web site. (from Drew on 2011-08-14). (A more-recent, marked-up and annotated version is at Bug 118518. None of these have been approved.)

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5 Comments

  1. T. J. Frazier

    Are we agreed that site maintainers can use "private" information for coping with disruptive behavior, and report such behavior to the user's ISP? Since the ISP already knows the user's information, this should not qualify as "revealing" it. Should we say something about this, like, "for site maintenance purposes"?

    1. Dennis E. Hamilton

      Wow. I wouldn't agree to that.

      First, there is a small problem of knowing the ISP and also knowing that the identification of the user is an impersonation.

      Any action should involve the technical means that are under AOOi and ASF control and should not involve coordination with third parties.

      Criminal activity is a different problem and that is already covered.

  2. Dennis E. Hamilton

    "By your use of these websites you acknowledge that you have read these Terms and agree to them."

    Unless there is a specific means to compel even looking at the ToU, this strikes me as ridiculous. Furthermore, it applies to a list of sites, not just the site the user has visited.

    What is an user expected to do to (1) know they have entered such an agreement on the occasion of using one of the sites and (2) to know where the agreement applies while they are going about their business.

    My impression is that statements like this have no force whatsoever, since it is not a proper notice. It would be better to strike this statement.

    1. Rob Weir

      Recommendation:  Let's first agree what the ToU should cover and say, in "plain English'.  Then we can work on the precise language, getting additional expert legal review if that is warranted.   

      In other words, do you agree that the site user should be notified about the ToU, and take some affirmative action to express agreement?  If so, we're fine.  Details will be worked out later.

      1. Drew Jensen

        Hi

        This shouldn't be this hard.

        Hell I even held back on making changes just so 'we' wouldn't have to debate each line.

        No offense but the page on the main site has too go - if your guys can't agree on this simple text then what no TOU at all - OK with me.