Terms Of Use
Among terms and conditions of 31 cloud-computing services in January-July 2010, operating in England,
- 27 specified the law to be used (a US state or other country),
- most specify that consumers can claim against the company only in a particular city in that jurisdiction, though often the company can claim against the consumer anywhere,
- some require claims to be brought within half a year to 2 years,
- 7 impose arbitration, all forbid illegal and objectionable conduct by the consumer,
- 13 can amend terms just by posting changes on their own website,
- a majority disclaim responsibility for confidentiality or backups,
- most promise to preserve data only briefly after terminating service,
- few promise to delete data thoroughly when the customer leaves,
- some monitor the customers' data to enforce their policies on use,
- all disclaim warranties and almost all disclaim liability,
- 24 require the customer to them, a few indemnify the customer,
- a few give credits for poor service, 15 promise "best efforts" and can suspend or stop any time.