On 9/22/2012 0:44, Warp wrote:
> It's almost incredible how many "terms of use" are almost exact copies
> of each other, even for companies that have nothing whatsoever to do with
> each other.

Well, there *is* some copying, especially for small companies. It's much 
cheaper than hiring a lawyer to do your own.

The other thing is that lots of pieces of TOS contracts are either 
determined by law or precedent, in the USA. For example, at one point, 
someone sued for warranty service, and the seller said "we disclaimed the 
warranty." The buyer told the judge they hadn't noticed that, and the judge 
said "How could you not notice? It was in all capitals!" From that decision 
on, all disclaimers of warranty are in all capitals. So that's how it goes 
for a lot of what looks like the boilerplate, because it's copied from 
decisions judges made or wording in laws. (For example, there's a law that 
says "you're allowed to record conversations for training or quality 
assurance." So that's exactly the words every telemarketer spiel uses.)

tl;dr: It's some of each.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "They're the 1-800-#-GORILA of the telecom business."

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