Huddled Masses

Posts Tagged ‘Phishy’

I read some legal terms of service today that I just feel like I have to tell you about, because, well … a lot of people are talkinga bout Syncplicity, and signing up like mad because it’s free and provides “unlimited” storage. I just have to say, what these people are saying up front on their tour, and the legal contract that you’re agreeing to in the Terms of Service … are completely different.

Their tour says they provide unlimited storage

Syncplicity’s storage is unlimited, so you never need to worry about how many file, gigabytes, or what-have-you of bandwidth you have left. Ever.

Their terms of service say:

You acknowledge and agree that Syncplicity may, at its option, establish limits concerning Sync Files, including, without limitation, the maximum number of days that Sync Files will remain available via the Services or on the Site, the maximum size of any files that may be stored on or uploaded to the Site or Services and the maximum disk space that may be allotted to you …

Their tour says they back up your files immediately and continuously.

Syncplicity recognizes your data is important and we work hard to earn your trust. Beyond continuous backup of files, Syncplicity also gracefully and safely handles dangerous situations which can potentially cause data loss … Painlessly recover deleted files and previous versions of files.

Their terms of service say:

You acknowledge and agree that you should not rely on the Site, Syncplicity Content, Services and Sync Files for any reason…. Syncplicity will have no responsibility or liability for maintaining copies of Sync Files on our servers, and you are solely responsible for creating back-ups of your Sync Files outside of your use of the Site and Services for such purposes … you will be responsible for all costs and expenses required to backup and restore any data and information that is lost or corrupted as a result of your use of the Site, Syncplicity Content, Services and/or Sync Files.

It gets worse though, because the rest of their terms of service borrow every possible nasty trick in the book … They reserve the right to scan and access your computer and any files or data on it, and to modify their terms of servitude at any time ....

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT BY UTILIZING THE SITE, SERVICES AND/OR SYNC FILES, TO PROVIDE YOU WITH THE SERVICES YOU CONSENT TO SYNCPLICITY ACCESSING AND/OR SCANNING (I) YOUR COMPUTER AND/OR ANY FILES, DATA OR INFORMATION THEREIN

Syncplicity reserves the right in its sole discretion, at any time, to modify, discontinue or terminate … these Terms of Service without advance notice … By continuing to use the Site or Services after Syncplicity has posted any modifications on the Site … you accept and agree to be bound by the modifications.

They’ll call the cops … or they won’t …

That stuff is what I normally look for in Phishy companies … this one is a new one though. Syncplicity isn’t content to just say that they’ll cooperate with any warrants issued against them, and help the police in any investigations to the full extent of the law. No, they’re going to be proactively reporting on you. In Soviet Russia, the computer locks you up.

Actually, the scariest bit about this is the freedom it gives them to do anything they want, whenever they want. I’ve emphasized a couple of phrases here, and included more of the quote than I normally would, so you can see I’m not taking them out of context:

Syncplicity may notify authorities or take any actions it deems appropriate, without notice to you, if Syncplicity suspects or determines, in its own discretion, that you may have or there is a significant risk that you have (i) failed to comply with any provision of these Terms of Service or any policies or rules established by Syncplicity; or (ii) engaged in actions relating to or in the course of using the Site or Services that may be illegal or cause liability, harm, embarrassment, harassment, abuse or disruption for you, Syncplicity Users, Syncplicity, any other third parties or the Site or Services.

The key thing that has to worry you here is that they can do whatever they want (regardless of the terms of the the rest of this agreement) if they feel (note that they will use their own discretion, not any legal standard) that there’s a risk that you might have broken one of their rules or a law (not to put too fine a point on it, but one assumes that they’ll be just as happy to enforce the laws of communist North Korea as they would to enforce the laws of the European Union or the United States).

Regarding ownership

Please don’t fall for a customer asking you to use this service to send them a copy of a file … As soon as you do, that other person can not only use it for whatever they want, but they can sublicense it to anyone they want for whatever reason.

While you retain all rights in any Sync Files, by using Site or Services, you hereby grant to Syncplicity a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, perpetual and irrevocable right and license to use and exploit such Sync Files as necessary to provide you with the Services. In addition, you hereby grant all other Syncplicity Users who you invite to access the Sync Files you indicate a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, perpetual and irrevocable right and license to use and exploit such Sync Files.

Oh, and last but not least … once they change the terms of service to include payment … don’t think you can just download all your files and shut off the service — once that term changes, if you want to cancel your account, they still get to keep all the files, and you can’t do anything about it. In fact, although you won’t be able to access your files, there’s no guarantee that those files will be deleted.

Any suspension, termination or cancellation will not affect your obligations to Syncplicity under these Terms of Service (including, without limitation, the rights granted by you to Syncplicity) ... we will have no further obligation to provide the Site or Services and all licenses and other rights granted to you by these Terms of Service will immediately cease.

You’ve been warned.