terms of service - claiming IP rights over our work?

[jammygit]

made tiny edits

Hello,

I just read your terms of service prior to signing up, and it made me stop midway through.

They're the worst terms I've ever read and I wanted to clarify their meaning (since they can't possibly be as bad as they read, can they?)

"Public Mobile has the right, but not the obligation, to monitor or log any Public Mobile  Internet site or use of the service."

"you grant Public Mobile and Public Mobile's service providers a world-wide, royalty-free, unrestricted license to use, copy, adapt, transmit, display, communicate and create compilations and derivative works from this content."

This says you can monitor all our internet activity and use any of our content whatsoever. I am a software developer and it reads an awful lot like you are asserting intellectual property rights over every single thing I send over your network.

How can I get these clauses striken out so that I can continue with signing up for service? I honestly don't think these clauses were intended to mean what they do, but I can't agree to something like that.

[austinhuang]

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@Someone_here wrote:

I don't have the time to look around, but could it be that these ToS (the one you are refering to) are for the community account and participation, and are different than the ToS that would apply to the phone service?

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• Community ToS (Located in Knowledge Base)
• Service ToS (Located in the footer)

[Someone_here]

I don't have the time to look around, but could it be that these ToS (the one you are refering to) are for the community account and participation, and are different than the ToS that would apply to the phone service?

[will13am]

A lot of these terms are boiler plate and used by everyone.  If anyone has a concern about it, simply encrypt the transmission and so the carriers can cache all they want.  Another thing to think about is government agencies like NSA and CSIS.  They too probably keep copies of various internet traffic.  One thing is certain with the internet, privacy is not part of the vocabulary. 

[srlawren]

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@jammygit wrote:

If I could get a custom terms sheet with the ownership claims made reasonable, I'll sign up, but I make a living off of the things I post to the internet. It would be insane to give up the rights on a 'I basically trust them' basis

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@jammygit Unfortunately, you're probably going to have to look elsewhere if the existing ToS are unacceptable.  Public Mobile is very much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get no-frills provider and I find it highly unlikely they would be open to providing a custom-tailored ToS for a specific customer.  However, if you really want to give that a shot, you will need to reach out to the moderator team via private message.  Here's where you can find the details on how to do so:  https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/How-to-Get-Help/ta-p/251745

[jammygit]

Its very strange compared to the rest of Public Mobile's terms

[jammygit]

If I could get a custom terms sheet with the ownership claims made reasonable, I'll sign up, but I make a living off of the things I post to the internet. It would be insane to give up the rights on a 'I basically trust them' basis

[Chanah]

All ISPs and mobile phone services need to retain some of your data in order to do their jobs. That I get.

And I could even understand (but not much like) that they could grab an article here that's really useful and publish it as Telus.

That's liveable with, in this age.

OTOH, if they try to grab the rights to that bestseller you uploaded to Kindle....that, I don't believe would survive a Charter challenge, though I would dearly love to see these sloppy terms, that appear to be pretty much boilerplate, rewritten to something saner before it ever gets close to that point.

[jammygit]

Maybe I need to look into Rogers then, apparently they removed that wording at some point.

I wonder if normal ISPs have the same clauses...

Thanks for the links btw

[srlawren]

@jammygit I just had a look at Fido's service and found similar statements:

Your Content

• You grant us the following world-wide, royalty-free and non-exclusive licences with respect to content you make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, as applicable:
  1. With respect to photos, graphics, audio and audiovisual content: the licence to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, compress, adapt, publicly perform, publicly display and communicate by telecommunication the content on the Services solely for the purpose for which it was made available. This licence exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include the content on the Services and terminates when you or we remove such content from the Services.
  2. With respect to all other content (other than photos, graphics, audio and audiovisual content): the perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable licence to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, compress, adapt, publish, translate, communicate by telecommunication, publicly perform and publicly display, and to incorporate it into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

"Publicly accessible" areas of the Services are those areas of the Services that are intended by us to be available to the general public, e.g., online message boards that are open to both registered members and visitors. Publicly accessible areas of the Services do not include those portions of the Services that are only accessible by registered members or intended for private communication, e.g. e-mail and instant messenger.

1. We have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor or investigate any content that is transmitted using the Services (other than voice Services) or the Equipment. We may also access or preserve content or information to comply with legal process in Canada or foreign jurisdictions, operate the Services, ensure compliance with an Agreement or any Policies, or protect ourselves, our customers or the public. We may move, remove or refuse to post any content, information or materials, in whole or in part, that we decide are unacceptable, undesirable or in violation of an Agreement.

[Chanah]

This seems to be universal in Canada - and a lot of other countries. I agree that it ought to be rewritten somewhat, but here's an article you might want to read about it: https://mobilesyrup.com/2018/02/18/heres-why-some-canadian-telecoms-have-rights-to-the-content-you-s...