Fine Print

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What Stack Overflow's terms say

D privacy grade · stackoverflow.com · News & reference

Stack Overflow's terms of service and privacy policy have 79 rated points: 2 serious, 26 bad, 25 worth knowing and 26 good. 59 apply whenever you use the site, signed in or not; 20 only once you have an account.

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Signed in or not

Whenever you use Stack Overflow

Serious 1

  • Sensitive data is collected and shared to target advertising

Bad 21

  • Information is gathered about you through third parties

  • Your personal data may be sold or otherwise transferred as part of a bankruptcy proceeding or other type of financial transaction

  • Third-party cookies are used for statistics

  • Your personal data is used to employ targeted third-party advertising

  • Instead of asking directly, this Service will assume your consent to changes of terms merely from your usage

  • You are forced into binding arbitration in case of disputes

  • Extra data may be collected about you through promotions

  • Location data may be collected, used and/or shared

  • Any liability on behalf of the service is only limited to the fees you paid as a user

  • Your profile is combined across various products

  • Your personal data may be used for marketing purposes

  • Some personal data may be kept for business interests or legal obligations

  • Your personal information is used for many different purposes

  • This service shares your personal data with third parties that are not essential to its operation

  • Inconvenient process for obtaining personal data

  • Your data may be processed and stored anywhere in the world

  • You waive your right to a class action

  • Your biometric data is collected

  • Your personal data may be disclosed to comply with government requests without notice to you

  • Many different types of personal data are collected

  • Referring and/or exit pages are tracked

    This service tracks which web page referred you to it

Worth knowing 19

  • This service gives your personal data to third parties involved in its operation

  • This service is a subsidiary of Company X

    This service is a subsidiary of Stack Exchange Inc.

  • There is a date of the last update of the agreements

  • The terms may be changed at any time, but you will receive notification of the changes

  • Invalidity of any portion of the Terms of Service does not entail invalidity of its remainder

  • The service is provided 'as is' and to be used at your sole risk

  • The court of law governing the terms is in location X

    The court of law governing the terms is in the State of New York, U.S.A.

  • No warranty is made regarding an uninterrupted, timely, secure and/or error-free experience

    The service provider makes no warranty regarding uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free service

  • This service does not guarantee that it or the products obtained through it meet your expectations or requirements

  • You agree to indemnify and hold the service harmless in case of a claim related to your use of the service

  • Failure to enforce any provision of the Terms of Service does not constitute a waiver of such provision

  • The service can stop being provided at any time

    They may stop providing the service at any time

  • The service assumes no liability for any damages the user incurs

  • Your IP address is collected, which can be used to view your approximate location

  • Your personal data may be aggregated into statistics

    Your personal data is aggregated into statistics

  • Other rules, terms, conditions and/or guidelines may apply

    Other applicable rules, terms, conditions or guidelines

  • Third parties are involved in operating the service

  • Instructions are provided on how to submit a copyright claim

  • Defend, indemnify, hold harmless; survives termination

Good 18

  • Information is provided about what kind of personal information is collected

  • Information is provided about how your personal data is used

  • You can opt out of targeted advertising

  • Features of the service are available under a free software and/or open source license

    Features of the service are made available under a free license

  • This service claims that your personal data is not being sold

    Your personal data is not sold

  • The data retention period is kept to the minimum necessary for fulfilling its purposes

  • Promises will be kept after a merger or acquisition

  • Information is provided about how your personal data is collected

  • The service claims that third parties it shares your personal information with are bound by confidentiality obligations

    Third parties used by the service are bound by confidentiality obligations for handling sensitive personal information

  • You are warned of the potential consequences related to third-party access

  • This service provides a list of third parties involved in its operation

    This Service provides a list of third parties involved in its operation

  • The service will only respond to government requests that are reasonable

  • You can request access, correction and/or deletion of your data

  • The service reviews its Privacy Policy on a regular basis

  • You will be notified if personal data has been affected by data breaches

  • Information is provided about security practices

  • The service claims to be CCPA compliant for California users

  • Archives of their agreements are provided so that changes can be viewed over time

With an account

If you have a Stack Overflow account

Serious 1

  • This service holds onto content that you've deleted

Bad 5

  • You must provide your identifiable information

  • Your provided identifiable information is actively checked by the service

  • Your content can be licensed to third parties

  • Tracking pixels are used in service-to-user communication

  • A license is kept on user-generated content even after you close your account

Worth knowing 6

  • Your content can be deleted if you violate the terms

  • You authorise the service to charge a credit card supplied on re-occurring basis

  • Your private content may be accessed by people working for the service

  • You cannot delete your contributions, but it makes sense for this service

  • This service is only available to users over a certain age

    This service is only available to users over 16 years old (E.U.) or 13 years old (U.S.)

  • If you are the target of a copyright claim, your content and/or your account may be removed

    If you are the target of a copyright claim, your content may be removed

Good 8

  • You have the right to leave this service at any time

  • Your account may be suspended and/or terminated for breaching the Terms of Service

    User accounts can be terminated after having been in breach of the Terms of Service repeatedly

  • The service has non-exclusive use of your content

  • You are informed about the risk of publishing personal info online

  • You can choose with whom you share content

  • Pseudonyms are allowed

    Pseudonyms are allowed under specific circumstances

  • You can retrieve an archive of your data

  • You can opt out of receiving promotional communications

    You can opt out of promotional communications

The documents

Ratings by ToS;DR volunteers; they can lag behind the current terms. Not legal advice.