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Do Terms Of Service (TOS) Not Matter Any More?

by Edward Aw
16 replies
Hi All,

I recently saw a presentation for a software for one of the social media sites. This product is being pushed by JVs. I won't mention it by name

What astounded me was in the presentation, the presenters seemed to make fun about not following the TOS of Service. They seemed to say it was no big deal to break the TOS and laughed about doing it.

I couldn't believe they were being so non-chalant.

I readily admit that I may have broken a TOS, but it would have been from not knowing versus a flagrant disregard for it.

I know there are gray areas that are subject to interpretation, but to so blantantly disregard?

Seriously?
#matter #service #terms #tos
  • Profile picture of the author CaesarSEO
    Don't listen to them. Why bother.
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    • Profile picture of the author Edward Aw
      Originally Posted by CaesarSEO View Post

      Don't listen to them. Why bother.
      LOL! That's why I left the "presentation".

      I was half tempted to notify the social media company about them.
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  • Profile picture of the author wpxo
    They will promote anything to make more money. It's as simple as that.
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    • Profile picture of the author Edward Aw
      Originally Posted by wpxo View Post

      They will promote anything to make more money. It's as simple as that.
      Sad, but true.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marshallsbiz
      I think most new website owners these days simply copy other websites TOS...seems a lot easier than paying a lawyer to draft an original copy:rolleyes:
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    • Profile picture of the author WillR
      Originally Posted by wpxo View Post

      They will promote anything to make more money. It's as simple as that.
      Breaking the TOS is a decision you need to make yourself. If they are willing to do it in order to make a quick profit then that's their call but not something you should be a part of. Especially if they are gloating about it. Word travels very fast. Also, if it's a product that is violating a TOS then it likely won't be around for very long so not a great investment for yourself.
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  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    It depends on the company/service for ToS.

    In most cases breaking the ToS will simply get your account banned. These types of marketers don't care because they use tools and proxies and account attrition is just part of the game.

    But breaking ToS could lead to real damages.

    In and of itself, breaking ToS is not criminal (though fraud can be) but a company could sue you for monetary damages for violating the contract you agreed to when you used the service.

    That is more worrisome for the makers of such tools than individual users:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ment-here.html

    The maker of the 'Tweet Attacks' tool was sued into oblivion by Twitter. That was less than a year ago so I am sure he is still in a big legal and financial mess.
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Do the TOS prescribe some sort of legal penalty?
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    • Profile picture of the author onSubie
      Originally Posted by writeaway View Post

      Do the TOS prescribe some sort of legal penalty?
      Not directly. The ToS is a written 'contract' that you agree to abide to when you use a service.

      If violating the ToS causes financial damages to the service provider, they could sue you for those damages.

      If you profited by violating the ToS, they could sue you for financial penalties.

      There is no direct criminal liability, but there could be criminal liability if anything you do is viewed as fraud or theft.

      If there is no financial gain or harm, then pursuit of legal damages is unlikely.

      For example, if someone went and bought 100,000 YouTube bot-views so they could impress their buddies with how "popular" their karaoke performance is, they would likely be at little risk beyond their account being banned or limited.

      But if some used a bl@(khat tool to mine traffic from Twitter and made a lot of money, Twitter could sue them for all that money + punitive damages claiming financial harm.
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  • Profile picture of the author HarrieB
    There are many things written in the Terms of service which one can manipulate but a blatant disregard of the T.O.S means that there are chances you will be penalized and sometimes criminal proceedings can also take place if the violations are very serious.

    The T.O.S are there to assist both the parties and they should be considered seriously if you will promote something through their platform.

    I won't simply trust a marketer who himself states that he is not following T.O.S.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Yep - and besides all that legal stuff is the fact that there are a lot of people who want to buy from honest people and when the seller is raspberrying a site owner and laughing about being a deceitful little jerk publicly -- who can trust him enough to be convinced his product is any good?

    Someday people will realize that anything illegal/inethical you do, even if you slide without legal hassles, will turn around and bite you in the ass later. No matter how you manipulate technology, it's still humans opening their wallets that get you the money -- and if they don't like and trust you, you're as good as done.
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
    Beyond the Path

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    • Profile picture of the author onSubie
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      Yep - and besides all that legal stuff is the fact that there are a lot of people who want to buy from honest people and when the seller is raspberrying a site owner and laughing about being a deceitful little jerk publicly -- who can trust him enough to be convinced his product is any good?
      True. But the market for these kinds of tools that 'spam' and violate ToS is not of that mindset.

      They want a 'sneaky' tool and have no qualms about violating the ToS. The fact that the seller has the same disdain for the 'rules' is often a positive.

      Just look at how many pay a high monthly fee for SEONuke.
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      • Profile picture of the author HeySal
        Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

        True. But the market for these kinds of tools that 'spam' and violate ToS is not of that mindset.

        They want a 'sneaky' tool and have no qualms about violating the ToS. The fact that the seller has the same disdain for the 'rules' is often a positive.

        Just look at how many pay a high monthly fee for SEONuke.
        True. And look at the general view the public now has of IMers. Those little creeps are ruining business for a lot of very worthy marketers. If we have any sense whatsoever, and any will to keep business flowing online, we will denounce those people, refuse to associate with them at all. You would not associate with gang members, thugs, thieves offline - why do it here?

        A secondary concern and reason to shun and denounce people doing these types of things is that when people cry out that they are being abused -- the government steps in to "fix" things and we ALL suffer for it.
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        Sal
        When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
        Beyond the Path

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  • Profile picture of the author HelpingYouBeAnExpert
    If you breathe and live through the day you break some TOS somewhere and some laws there is no way around that. The best way not to break anything is to live on a farm somewhere and buy nothing no cable, internet, cell phone etc or you will break som TOS on something!
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  • Profile picture of the author Carlsbadd
    There are product creators out there that sell bots and programs that violate TOS all the time.

    I have been shocked when they question my request for a refund because of this.

    For instance creating 100's of facebook profiles.
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  • Profile picture of the author BHeard
    Like the spammers of the world that irritate even the most tolerant of us all. The ops that choose this route show lack of any real business acumen whatever.
    Thinking that they can simply use the numbers.

    Fascinates me no end they put all this energy into a "quick fix" that sees them endlessly creating new things because their brand is so well "violating" they simply cannot last.
    Even more sad when Ops that start out with good intent get caught up in JVs with these "violators" and end up losing sight of what their original intention was... ie to create worthwhile useful products for all.. Not spam us all in varied ways..

    Have seen a few decent folks get caught up in JVs of this nature to their detriment, very hard to undo the association unless you get forthright about it.

    There are some " HOT operators " on the WF that have on occasion spat their tirades at my opinions of their operating practises.. Their standard bot answers are "everyone does it, your missing out on sales, go hide under a rock if you can't do business in this area".. blah blah
    What can one say..

    My business relationships have been built up over many years (I would suspect longer than most of these HOT shots have been around- yes I am old and grey) however my Business associates are long and trusted, my customer base is long, trusted and repeat..

    I do not have to keep recreating profiles, accounts, hide behind proxies to do business, endlessly due to the amazing LI bots, get associates to attend endless webinars (Yet another valuable tool these folks have destroyed) and Social media tricks etc..

    Are there shortcuts? - I suspect yes,
    Will they stick ? - I suspect no,
    Will you have to rebuild what you intended ? - I suspect repeatedly if you choose the Violate road..

    Choose your way of business (business changes all the time and you have to keep up and move with the times, but there is a CLEAR choice between ACceptable business practises and DEceptive business practises) and keep true..
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