Legalese/Privacy
The legalese required to maintain a website has gotten pretty weird, hasn't
it? (You want diatribes on legalese? I've got your
diatribes!)
Well, here's my legalese (and I
fer sure invite suggestions for improvements!):
Takedown
GNU Material
Original Material
Pretty Broad License
Legalese Disclaimer
Privacy Policy
Update Notices
Takedown
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If you think that my website contains (or links to) material that you have the
copyright on, please contact me.
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For that matter, if you find
anything else on my website (or linked-to from it) that looks illegal
to you (obscene, classified military secret, trademark infringement, etc.),
please contact me.
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Heck, if you find anything that
looks just plain stupid and/or wrong, please
contact me.
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Hey, I'm in this to inform and
entertain, not to get folks all riled up when there's no cause for riling.
GNU Material
Some of the webpages on this website are not 100% original
to me, but include material subject to the
GNU Free Documentation License. I've taken that GNU material, re-worked it, and added some
material of my own. Each webpage on which this occurs is thus a
Modified Version of the original material.
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This material is marked accordingly, webpage-by-webpage.
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I, Tom Streeter, am both the new author and the publisher of each of these
Modified Versions.
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One of the GNU license requirements is that I must include a "History"
section that states where I got this licensed material from. You'll note that,
whenever I've taken GNU-licensed material from the Web, I've phrased my
"History" section as:
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HISTORY: I've taken some material, below, from [here insert name of
author's website]'s web piece(s) (last accessed in [here insert year]) on
[here insert title(s), with hyperlinks].
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Another GNU license requirement is that you
-- when copying or modifying this Modified Version of mine onto your website
-- must include a "History" section that re-states my "History" section, and
that then adds to it an item stating at least the title of the Modified
Version, the year, and my name (as new author).
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Thus, as I read the GNU license, all you have to do to
comply with the "History" requirement is to include:
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Yes, the GNU license has "additional requirements". I sure
think that I've complied with everything that the GNU license
requires. If I haven't, then I'm sure that the GNU licensors will bring this
non-compliance to my attention! I mean, it's not like I'm hiding
this website from Google and the other search engines. And, yes, I'll promptly
correct any non-compliance.
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I sure would appreciate somebody explaining to me how I
can get rid of this GNU legalese from this website. Or at least how to make it
more reader-friendly. Until then, I play by the rules as best I understand
them.
Original
Material
Everything else on this website
is original to me and is
Copyright © Tom Streeter 1991-[whatever this year is]. And that goes
double for patents, trademarks (oh, yes: ™), and all other
"Intellectual Property".
Pretty
Broad License
That having been said:
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Feel free to link to, quote, copy, modify, archive, or
frame any page on this website. An acknowledgement and a link-back are
appreciated, but not necessary. Cut your own deal with GNU material.
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Keep in mind, though, that this website is a perpetual
work in progress. A link to (or frame of) a page on this website
-- one that worked yesterday -- might well not work today.
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If I decide that you're not playing nice, I reserve the
right to give notice that I have revoked this permission by the simple
expedient(s) of:
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Note that phrasing: "and/or". If you make it easy
for me to send you an email/snail-mail, then I am more likely to do so, and to
thereby bring the problem to your actual attention. "Ask, and
you might well receive; don't ask, and your odds go way down." Maybe I'll:
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Keep in mind, though, that "notice" is complete once I
update this webpage of legalese. So:
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Don't worry about pre-notice use; just don't do any
post-notice use.
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If you're thinking about starting some
hard-to-back-out-of project that uses stuff from this webpage, and that you
could find yourself suddenly not permitted to use any more, then:
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double-check back to this webpage; and
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contact me; we can probably cut some
special deal -- hey, I'm reasonable.
Legalese
Disclaimer
Check out my
legalese disclaimer.
Privacy Policy
Privacy? I can't vouch for my
ISP, but
I'm far too lazy, myself, to track visitors to this website:
If you
contact me, or if I otherwise get your contact
information (email address, telephone number, street address, postal address,
etc.), then:
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I do not
undertake any special responsibility to safeguard your communication (email,
telephone call, face-to-face conversation, letter, etc.). This includes both:
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On the other hand,
I do undertake to refrain from:
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deliberately
making it any easier for unauthorized persons to hack into this information than
to it is for them hack into anything else on my computer;
and from
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deliberately
disclosing your contact information to third parties, other than to mutual
friends who have misplaced it, or with your permission.
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There's always the
possibility that someone will hack into my computer, or will burglarize my home
and bodily steal my computer. If this happens then -- as soon as I
discover it and can get back on line -- I'll notify everybody in my address
book. To ensure that you're in my address book, please sign up to receive
update notices.
Note that this
non-disclosure undertaking applies only to your contact information, and not to:
If you want to
extend this non-disclosure undertaking to also include such contents and
identity, then we're going to have to negotiate some sort of non-disclosure
agreement -- and I'm prepared to negotiate. Please check out my
Non-Disclosure Terms.
All bets are off
if I get hit with legal process.
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"Process"
includes, but it not limited to,
subpoena, search
warrant, and
national security letter.
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Yes, I undertake
to notify you that I've been hit with legal process, but only if:
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the process
explicitly states that it is permitted for me to notify you; or
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the process
explicitly states, or I independently determine, that it is permitted for me to
consult an attorney, and:
Do you think that
this is unreasonable? Then please explain to me why
I should assume further obligations for receiving
allegedly-confidential information that you want to disclose to
me.
Update Notices
If you'd like to
receive a notice whenever I update this webpage, or notice a hack-in/burglary,
then please
contact me. I'll put whatever email address you
prefer on this webpage, and send a message whenever I update/notice. Consider giving me
a special-purpose email address, and putting a special-purpose spam filter on
it.
Current addresses
to send notices to:
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