Terms of Service; Didn't Read

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Terms of Service; Didn't Read (ToS;DR) is a community project that aims to analyze and grade the terms of service (TOS) and privacy policies of major Internet sites and services. Each aspect of a TOS or privacy policy is assessed as positive, negative, or neutral. Services are graded from A (best) to E (worst) once a comprehensive list of cases has been reviewed by volunteer curators.[3][4][5] The project's name is a play on the phrase too long; didn't read.[1]

Terms of Service; Didn't Read
A screenshot showing example ratings from ToS;DR
URLtosdr.org
LaunchedJune 2012; 12 years ago (2012-06)[1]
Current statusActive
Content license
CC BY-SA 3.0[2]

The project was founded in June 2012 by Hugo Roy, programmer Michiel de Jong, and designer Jan-Christoph Borchardt.[6] It was led by Hugo Roy, when he was a law student,[7] from 2012 to 2015. In 2020, the project was revived with a larger team.

The project offers a browser extension for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Opera, which shows the grade and a short description of the privacy policy if a website is compatible.[8][9]

History

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Several sources of inspiration have been noted for ToS;DR, including Creative Commons' plain English summaries of licenses, EU energy efficiency ratings,[10] and Aza Raskin's Privacy Icons.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ a b "About - Terms of Service; Didn't Read". Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  2. ^ "Terms of Contribution - Terms of Service; Didn't Read". Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  3. ^ Brown, Mark (15 August 2012). "ToS;DR website translates terms of service agreements into English". Wired. Archived from the original on 18 August 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  4. ^ Blagdon, Jeff (14 August 2012). "ToS;DR reads the terms of service so you don't have to". The Verge. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  5. ^ Klosowski, Thorin (8 August 2012). "ToS;DR Is a One-Stop Shop for Webapp Terms of Service Ratings". Lifehacker. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  6. ^ "About Us -- Terms of Service; Didn't Read".
  7. ^ Luckerson, Victor (10 August 2012). "Facebook, Google, Others Have Privacy Policies Explained on New Website". Time. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Downloads -- Terms of Service; Didn't Read". tosdr.org. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  9. ^ "Terms of Service; Didn't Read: TOS Summaries - gHacks". gHacks. 2017-08-20. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  10. ^ Finley, Klint (13 August 2012). "Putting An End To The Biggest Lie On The Internet". TechCrunch. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
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