Optin form disclaimers

by ozduc
1 replies
I see so many optin forms with a disclaimer like:

"We hate spam as much as you do and we will never rent, sell or give your information to any third party....ever!"

Now correct me if I'm wrong but isn't using an auto responder service giving the person's information to a third party?
Also I have seen people selling sites on flippa that have this on the site, yet they are selling the site WITH the mailing list. Wouldn't this be a direct violation of their own TOS and be opening themselves up to a law suit by an angry subscriber?
#disclaimers #form #optin
  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    First off, I'm not a big fan of that particular verbiage in the first place. It introduces the idea of spam where it may not have existed before. I much prefer a more positive statement like "we'll respect your inbox like we respect our own" or even a simple "we respect your privacy" with a link to the appropriate page.

    As for autoresponder services, while you might be technically accurate about a service provider being a third party, your agreement with the service provider should have protection for your actual list. Kind of like the safe deposit boxes in banks. You are leaving your property in the bank vault, but they can't just go in and use it.

    Extending your premise, if your site/list is hosted on a commercial web host, you would technically be giving the info to a third party - your hosting company.

    On top of that, such a statement is unenforceable. If you have a list with that promise, and a US Marshall shows up with a subpoena, you will give up the list - one way or another.

    On the last point, unless you are collecting the names as a personal list, that list can be classified as an asset of the business. When you sell the business, ownership of the list (and the warranty implied in the statement) transfers to the new owner. You no longer have any legitimate reason for accessing the list, so you would become one of those third parties.

    I always put those two possibilities in my privacy policy or TOS.

    1. I will take reasonable care to guard the information trusted to me, and will not rent, sell or give out the information for marketing purposes. I will, though, comply with legitimate legal requirements to turn over such information.

    2. The subscriber list is the property of the business, and if the business is sold, the list transfers with it.

    "CYA, you be okay..."
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1796786].message }}

Trending Topics