Our comments are at the bottom of this post. :)
The following is a copy and paste from the Ts&Cs of the most recent TweetDeck installer:
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TweetDeck End-User License Agreement Terms
BY USING THIS APPLICATION SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE FOLLOWING TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, DO NOT INSTALL THE APPLICATION SOFTWARE AND/OR REMOVE IT FROM ANY DEVICES WHERE IT WAS INSTALLED BY YOU.
The TweetDeck application software provided to you includes executable code, documentation and/or help files, and other data, including any updates (referred to collectively as the “Software”). These Terms apply to the Software and your use of the Software.
1. Your relationship with Twitter
1.1 Your use of the Software and your use of the Software with the Twitter service (collectively, the “Services”) are subject to the terms of a legal agreement between you and Twitter. “Twitter” means Twitter, Inc., having a principal business address at 795 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 in the United States of America. This document explains how the agreement is made up, and sets out some of the terms of the agreement.
1.2 Unless otherwise agreed in writing with Twitter, your agreement with Twitter will always include, at a minimum, the terms and conditions set out in this document (“Terms”). Open source software licenses for TweetDeck source code constitute separate written agreements. To the limited extent that the open source software licenses expressly supersede these Terms, the open source licenses govern your agreement with Twitter for the use of TweetDeck.
1.3 Your agreement with Twitter will also include the terms of any Legal Notices applicable to the Services.
1.4 These Terms form a legally binding agreement between you and Twitter in relation to your use of the Software and Services. It is important that you take the time to read them carefully.
1.5 Your use of the Twitter service is also subject to the terms of service at <http://twitter.com/tos>. Your use of any pre-installed apps or extensions provided by a third party may be subject to terms provided to you by the third party.
2. Accepting the Terms
2.1 In order to use the Software, you must first agree to the Terms. You may not use the Software if you do not accept the Terms.
2.2 You can accept the Terms by:
(A) clicking to accept or agree to the Terms, where this option is made available to you by Twitter in the user interface; or
(B) by actually using the Software. In this case, you understand and agree that Twitter will treat your use of the Software as acceptance of the Terms from that point onwards.
3. License from Twitter
3.1 Twitter gives you a limited non-exclusive license to use the Software, and any updates provided to you by Twitter. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling you to use and enjoy the Software as provided by Twitter, in the manner permitted by the Terms.
3.2 Subject to Section 1.2, you may not (and you may not permit anyone else to) copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, decompile or otherwise attempt to extract the source code of the Software or any part thereof, unless this is expressly permitted or required by law, or unless you have been specifically told that you may do so by Twitter, in writing.
3.3 Subject to Section 1.2, unless Twitter has given you specific written permission to do so, you may not assign (or grant a sub-license of) your rights to use the Software, grant a security interest in or over your rights to use the Software, or otherwise transfer any part of your rights to use the Software.
4. Software updates
4.1 The Software may automatically download and install updates from time to time from Twitter. These updates are designed to improve, enhance and further develop the Software and may take the form of bug fixes, enhanced functions, new software modules and completely new versions. You agree to receive such updates (and permit Twitter to deliver these to you) as part of your use of the Software.
5. Provision of the Services by Twitter
5.1 Twitter has subsidiaries and affiliated legal entities around the world (“Subsidiaries and Affiliates”). Sometimes, these companies will be providing the Services to you on behalf of Twitter itself. You acknowledge and agree that Subsidiaries and Affiliates will be entitled to provide the Services to you.
5.2 Twitter is constantly innovating in order to provide the best possible experience for its users. You acknowledge and agree that the form and nature of the Services that Twitter provides may change from time to time without prior notice to you.
5.3 As part of this continuing innovation, you acknowledge and agree that Twitter may stop (permanently or temporarily) providing the Services (or any features within the Services) to you or to users generally at Twitter’s sole discretion, without prior notice to you. You may stop using the Services at any time. You do not need to inform Twitter when you stop using the Services.
5.4 You acknowledge and agree that if Twitter disables access to your account, you may be prevented from accessing the Services, your account details or any files or other content which is contained in your account.
7. Use of the Services by you
7.1 You agree to use the Services only for purposes that are permitted by (a) the Terms, and (b) any applicable law, regulation or generally accepted practices or guidelines in the relevant jurisdictions (including any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the United States or other relevant countries).
7.2 You agree that you will not engage in any activity that interferes with or disrupts the Services (or the servers and networks which are connected to the Services).
7.3 Unless you have been specifically permitted to do so in a separate agreement with Twitter, you agree that you will not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade or resell the Services for any purpose.
7.4 You agree that you are solely responsible for (and that Twitter has no responsibility to you or to any third party for) any breach of your obligations under the Terms and for the consequences (including any loss or damage which Twitter may suffer) of any such breach.
8. Privacy and your personal information
8.1 For information about Twitter’s data protection practices, please read Twitter’s privacy policy at http://twitter.com/privacy. This policy explains how Twitter treats your personal information, and protects your privacy, when you use the Software and the Services.
8.2 You agree to the use of your data in accordance with Twitter’s privacy policies.
9. Content in the Services
9.1 You understand that all information (such as data files, written text, computer software, music, audio files or other sounds, photographs, videos or other images) which you may have access to as part of, or through your use of, the Services are the sole responsibility of the person from which such content originated. All such information is referred to below as the “Content”.
9.2 You should be aware that Content presented to you as part of the Services, including but not limited to advertisements in the Services and sponsored Content within the Services may be protected by intellectual property rights which are owned by the sponsors or advertisers who provide that Content to Twitter (or by other persons or companies on their behalf). You may not modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on this Content (either in whole or in part) unless you have been specifically told that you may do so by Twitter or by the owners of that Content, in a separate agreement.
9.3 Twitter reserves the right (but shall have no obligation) to pre-screen, review, flag, filter, modify, refuse or remove any or all Content from any Service.
9.4 You understand that by using the Services you may be exposed to Content that you may find offensive, indecent or objectionable and that, in this respect, you use the Services at your own risk.
9.5 You agree that you are solely responsible for (and that Twitter has no responsibility to you or to any third party for) any Content that you create, transmit or display while using the Services and for the consequences of your actions (including any loss or damage which Twitter may suffer) by doing so. You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.
10. Proprietary rights
10.1 You acknowledge and agree that Twitter (or Twitter’s licensors) owns all legal right, title and interest in and to the Software and the Services, including any intellectual property rights which subsist in the Software and the Services (whether those rights happen to be registered or not, and wherever in the world those rights may exist).
10.2 Unless you have agreed otherwise in writing with Twitter, nothing in the Terms gives you a right to use any of Twitter’s trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features.
10.3 If you have been given an explicit right to use any of these brand features in a separate written agreement with Twitter, then you agree that your use of such features shall be in compliance with that agreement, any applicable provisions of the Terms, and Twitter's brand feature use guidelines as updated from time to time. These guidelines can be viewed online at http://support.twitter.com/entries/77641 <%22http> (or such other URL as Twitter may provide for this purpose from time to time).
10.4 Twitter acknowledges and agrees that it obtains no right, title or interest from you (or your licensors) under these Terms in or to any Content that you submit, post, transmit or display on, or through, the Services, including any intellectual property rights which subsist in that Content (whether those rights happen to be registered or not, and wherever in the world those rights may exist). Unless you have agreed otherwise in writing with Twitter, you agree that you are responsible for protecting and enforcing those rights and that Twitter has no obligation to do so on your behalf.
10.5 You agree that you shall not remove, obscure, or alter any proprietary rights notices (including copyright and trade mark notices), which may be affixed to or contained within the Software or the Services.
10.6 Unless you have been expressly authorized to do so in writing by Twitter, you agree that in using the Services, you will not use any trademark, service mark, trade name, logo of any company or organization in a way that is likely or intended to cause confusion about the owner or authorized user of such marks, names or logos.
11. Ending your relationship with Twitter
11.1 The Terms will continue to apply until terminated by either you or Twitter as set out below.
11.2 Twitter may at any time, terminate its legal agreement with you if:
(A) you have breached any provision of the Terms (or have acted in manner which clearly shows that you do not intend to, or are unable to comply with the provisions of the Terms); or
(B) Twitter is required to do so by law (for example, where the provision of the Software or Services to you is, or becomes, unlawful); or
(C) the partner with whom Twitter offered the Software or Services to you has terminated its relationship with Twitter or ceased to offer the Software or Services to you; or
(D) Twitter is transitioning to no longer providing the Software or Services to users in the country in which you are resident or from which you use the service; or
(E) the provision of the Software or Services to you by Twitter is, in Twitter’s opinion, no longer commercially viable.
11.3 Nothing in this Section shall affect Twitter’s rights regarding provision of Software or Services under Section 6 of the Terms.
11.4 When these Terms come to an end, all of the legal rights, obligations and liabilities that you and Twitter have benefited from, been subject to (or which have accrued over time whilst the Terms have been in force) or which are expressed to continue indefinitely, shall be unaffected by this cessation, and the provisions of Section 19.7 shall continue to apply to such rights, obligations and liabilities indefinitely.
12. EXCLUSION OF WARRANTIES
12.1 NOTHING IN THESE TERMS, INCLUDING SECTIONS 12 AND 13, SHALL EXCLUDE OR LIMIT TWITTER’S WARRANTY OR LIABILITY FOR LOSSES WHICH MAY NOT BE LAWFULLY EXCLUDED OR LIMITED BY APPLICABLE LAW. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY NEGLIGENCE, BREACH OF CONTRACT OR BREACH OF IMPLIED TERMS, OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, ONLY THE LIMITATIONS WHICH ARE LAWFUL IN YOUR JURISDICTION WILL APPLY TO YOU AND OUR LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
12.2 YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND THAT THE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND “AS AVAILABLE.”
12.3 IN PARTICULAR, TWITTER, ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND AFFILIATES, AND ITS LICENSORS DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT TO YOU THAT:
(A) YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS,
(B) YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR FREE FROM ERROR,
(C) ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED BY YOU AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, AND
(D) THAT DEFECTS IN THE OPERATION OR FUNCTIONALITY OF ANY SOFTWARE PROVIDED TO YOU AS PART OF THE SERVICES WILL BE CORRECTED.
12.4 ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR OTHER DEVICE OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL.
12.5 NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM TWITTER OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THE TERMS.
12.6 TWITTER FURTHER EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
13. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
13.1 SUBJECT TO OVERALL PROVISION IN SECTION 12.1 ABOVE, YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT TWITTER, ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND AFFILIATES, AND ITS LICENSORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR:
(A) ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES THAT MAY BE INCURRED BY YOU, HOWEVER CAUSED AND UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY. THIS SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, ANY LOSS OF PROFIT (WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY), ANY LOSS OF GOODWILL OR BUSINESS REPUTATION, ANY LOSS OF DATA SUFFERED, COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSS;
(B) ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE THAT MAY BE INCURRED BY YOU, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OR DAMAGE AS A RESULT OF:
(I) ANY RELIANCE PLACED BY YOU ON THE COMPLETENESS, ACCURACY OR EXISTENCE OF ANY ADVERTISING, OR AS A RESULT OF ANY RELATIONSHIP OR TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND ANY ADVERTISER OR SPONSOR WHOSE ADVERTISING APPEARS ON THE SERVICES;
(II) ANY CHANGES WHICH TWITTER MAY MAKE TO THE SOFTWARE OR SERVICES, OR FOR ANY PERMANENT OR TEMPORARY CESSATION IN THE PROVISION OF THE SERVICES (OR ANY FEATURES WITHIN THE SOFTWARE OR SERVICES);
(III) THE DELETION OF, CORRUPTION OF, OR FAILURE TO STORE, ANY CONTENT AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS DATA MAINTAINED OR TRANSMITTED BY OR THROUGH YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR SERVICES;
(IV) YOUR FAILURE TO PROVIDE TWITTER WITH ACCURATE ACCOUNT INFORMATION; AND/OR
(V) YOUR FAILURE TO KEEP YOUR PASSWORD OR ACCOUNT DETAILS SECURE AND CONFIDENTIAL.
13.2 THE LIMITATIONS ON TWITTER’S LIABILITY TO YOU IN SECTION 13.1 ABOVE SHALL APPLY WHETHER OR NOT TWITTER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF OR SHOULD HAVE BEEN AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SUCH LOSSES ARISING.
14. Copyright and trademark policies
14.1 It is Twitter’s policy to respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with applicable international intellectual property law (including, in the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. Details of Twitter’s policy can be found at <http://support.twitter.com/entries/15795> (or such other URL as Twitter may provide for this purpose from time to time).
14.2 Twitter operates a trademark complaints procedure in respect of Twitter’s advertising business, details of which can be found at <https://support.twitter.com/articles/18367> (or such other URL as Twitter may provide for this purpose from time to time).
15. Advertisements
15.1 Some of the Services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions. These advertisements may be targeted to the content of information stored on the Services, queries made through the Services or other information.
15.2 The manner, mode and extent of advertising by Twitter on the Services are subject to change without specific notice to you.
15.3 In consideration for Twitter granting you access to and use of the Services, you agree that Twitter may place such advertising on the Services.
16. Other content
16.1 The Services may include hyperlinks to other web sites or content or resources. Twitter may have no control over any web sites or resources that are provided by companies or persons other than Twitter.
16.2 You acknowledge and agree that Twitter is not responsible for the availability of any such external sites or resources, and does not endorse any advertising, products or other materials on or available from such web sites or resources.
16.3 You acknowledge and agree that Twitter is not liable for any loss or damage that may be incurred by you as a result of the availability of those external sites or resources, or as a result of any reliance placed by you on the completeness, accuracy or existence of any advertising, products or other materials on, or available from, such web sites or resources.
17. Language of the Terms
17.1 Where Twitter has provided you with a translation of the English language version of the Terms, then you agree that the translation is provided for your convenience only and that the English language versions of the Terms will govern your relationship with Twitter.
17.2 If there is any contradiction between what the English language version of the Terms says and what a translation says, then the English language version shall take precedence.
18. Changes to the Terms
18.1 Twitter may make changes to the Terms from time to time. When these changes are made, Twitter will make a new copy of the Terms within or through the affected Software or Services.
18.2 You understand and agree that if you use the Software or Services after the date on which the Terms have changed, Twitter will treat your continued use as acceptance of the updated Terms.
19. General legal terms
19.1 Sometimes when you use the Services, you may (as a result of, or in connection with your use of the Services) use a service or download a piece of software, or purchase goods (for purposes of this document, “goods” may include services), which are provided by another person or company. Your use of these other services, download or use of software, or purchase and use of goods may be subject to separate terms between you and the company or person concerned. If so, these Terms do not affect your legal relationship with these other companies or individuals.
19.2 The Terms constitute the whole legal agreement between you and Twitter and govern your use of the Software or Services (but expressly excluding any services which Twitter may provide to you under a separate agreement), and completely replace any prior agreements between you and Twitter in relation to the Software and Services.
19.3 You agree that Twitter may provide you with notices, including those regarding changes to the Terms, by email, regular mail, or postings on the Services.
19.4 You agree that if Twitter does not exercise or enforce any legal right or remedy which is contained in the Terms (or which Twitter has the benefit of under any applicable law), this will not be taken to be a formal waiver of Twitter’s rights and that those rights or remedies will still be available to Twitter.
19.5 If any court of law, having the jurisdiction to decide on this matter, rules that any provision of these Terms is invalid, then that provision will be removed from the Terms without affecting the rest of the Terms. The remaining provisions of the Terms will continue to be valid and enforceable.
19.6 You acknowledge and agree that each member of the group of companies of which Twitter is the parent shall be third party beneficiaries to the Terms and that such other companies shall be entitled to directly enforce, and rely upon, any provision of the Terms which confers a benefit on (or rights in favor of) them. Other than this, no other person or company shall be third party beneficiaries to the Terms.
19.7 The Terms, and your relationship with Twitter under the Terms, shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. You and Twitter agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the county of San Francisco, California to resolve any legal matter arising from the Terms. Notwithstanding this, you agree that Twitter shall still be allowed to apply for injunctive remedies (or an equivalent type of urgent legal relief) in any jurisdiction.
December 1, 2011
***
Twitter Privacy Policy
Twitter instantly connects people everywhere to what’s most meaningful to them. Any registered user can send a Tweet, which is a message of 140 characters or less that is public by default and can include other content like photos, videos, and links to other websites.
Tip What you say on Twitter may be viewed all around the world instantly.
This Privacy Policy describes how and when Twitter collects, uses and shares your information when you use our Services. Twitter receives your information through our various websites, SMS, APIs, email notifications, applications, buttons, and widgets (the "Services" or "Twitter"). For example, you send us information when you use Twitter from our website, post or receive Tweets via SMS, or access Twitter from an application such as Twitter for Mac, Twitter for Android or TweetDeck. When using any of our Services you consent to the collection, transfer, manipulation, storage, disclosure and other uses of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. Irrespective of which country you reside in or supply information from, you authorize Twitter to use your information in the United States and any other country where Twitter operates.
If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@twitter.com or here.
Information Collection and Use
Tip We collect and use your information below to provide our Services and to measure and improve them over time.
Information Collected Upon Registration: When you create or reconfigure a Twitter account, you provide some personal information, such as your name, username, password, and email address. Some of this information, for example, your name and username, is listed publicly on our Services, including on your profile page and in search results. Some Services, such as search, public user profiles and viewing lists, do not require registration.
Additional Information: You may provide us with profile information to make public, such as a short biography, your location, your website, or a picture. You may provide information to customize your account, such as a cell phone number for the delivery of SMS messages. We may use your contact information to send you information about our Services or to market to you. You may use your account settings to unsubscribe from notifications from Twitter. You may also unsubscribe by following the instructions contained within the notification or the instructions on our website. We may use your contact information to help others find your Twitter account, including through third-party services and client applications. Your account settings control whether others can find you by your email address or cell phone number. You may choose to upload your address book so that we can help you find Twitter users you know. We may later suggest people to follow on Twitter based on your imported address book contacts, which you can delete from Twitter at any time. If you email us, we may keep your message, email address and contact information to respond to your request. If you connect your Twitter account to your account on another service in order to cross-post between Twitter and that service, the other service may send us your registration or profile information on that service and other information that you authorize. This information enables cross-posting, helps us improve the Services, and is deleted from Twitter within a few weeks of your disconnecting from Twitter your account on the other service. Learn more here. Providing the additional information described in this section is entirely optional.
Tweets, Following, Lists and other Public Information: Our Services are primarily designed to help you share information with the world. Most of the information you provide us is information you are asking us to make public. This includes not only the messages you Tweet and the metadata provided with Tweets, such as when you Tweeted, but also the lists you create, the people you follow, the Tweets you mark as favorites or Retweet, and many other bits of information that result from your use of the Services. Our default is almost always to make the information you provide public for as long as you do not delete it from Twitter, but we generally give you settings to make the information more private if you want. Your public information is broadly and instantly disseminated. For instance, your public user profile information and public Tweets may be searchable by search engines and are immediately delivered via SMS and our APIs to a wide range of users and services, with one example being the United States Library of Congress, which archives Tweets for historical purposes. When you share information or content like photos, videos, and links via the Services, you should think carefully about what you are making public.
Location Information: You may choose to publish your location in your Tweets and in your Twitter profile. You may also tell us your location when you set your trend location on Twitter.com or enable your computer or mobile device to send us location information. You can set your Tweet location preferences in your account settings and learn more about this feature here. Learn how to set your mobile location preferences here. We may use and store information about your location to provide features of our Services, such as Tweeting with your location, and to improve and customize the Services, for example, with more relevant content like local trends, stories, ads, and suggestions for people to follow.
Links: Twitter may keep track of how you interact with links across our Services, including our email notifications, third-party services, and client applications, by redirecting clicks or through other means. We do this to help improve our Services, to provide more relevant advertising, and to be able to share aggregate click statistics such as how many times a particular link was clicked on.
Cookies: Like many websites, we use "cookie" technology to collect additional website usage data and to improve our Services, but we do not require cookies for many parts of our Services such as searching and looking at public user profiles or lists. A cookie is a small data file that is transferred to your computer's hard disk. Twitter may use both session cookies and persistent cookies to better understand how you interact with our Services, to monitor aggregate usage by our users and web traffic routing on our Services, and to customize and improve our Services. Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies. You can instruct your browser, by changing its settings, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. However, some Services may not function properly if you disable cookies.
Log Data: Our servers automatically record information ("Log Data") created by your use of the Services. Log Data may include information such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, the referring web page, pages visited, location, your mobile carrier, device and application IDs, search terms, and cookie information. We receive Log Data when you interact with our Services, for example, when you visit our websites, sign into our Services, interact with our email notifications, use your Twitter account to authenticate to a third-party website or application, or visit a third-party website that includes a Twitter button or widget. Twitter uses Log Data to provide our Services and to measure, customize, and improve them. If not already done earlier, for example, as provided below for Widget Data, we will either delete Log Data or remove any common account identifiers, such as your username, full IP address, or email address, after 18 months.
Widget Data: We may tailor content for you based on your visits to third-party websites that integrate Twitter buttons or widgets. When these websites first load our buttons or widgets for display, we receive Log Data, including the web page you visited and a cookie that identifies your browser ("Widget Data"). After a maximum of 10 days, we start the process of deleting or aggregating Widget Data, which is usually instantaneous but in some cases may take up to a week. While we have the Widget Data, we may use it to tailor content for you, such as suggestions for people to follow on Twitter. Tailored content is stored with only your browser cookie ID and is separated from other Widget Data such as page-visit information. This feature is optional and not yet available to all users. If you want, you can suspend it or turn it off, which removes from your browser the unique cookie that enables the feature. Learn more about the feature here. For Tweets, Log Data, and other information that we receive from interactions with Twitter buttons or widgets, please see the other sections of this Privacy Policy.
Third-Party Service Providers: Twitter uses a variety of third-party services to help provide our Services, such as hosting our various blogs and wikis, and to help us understand the use of our Services, such as Google Analytics. These third-party service providers may collect information sent by your browser as part of a web page request, such as cookies or your IP address.
Information Sharing and Disclosure
Tip We do not disclose your private personal information except in the limited circumstances described here.
Your Consent: We may share or disclose your information at your direction, such as when you authorize a third-party web client or application to access your Twitter account.
Service Providers: We engage service providers to perform functions and provide services to us in the United States and abroad. We may share your private personal information with such service providers subject to confidentiality obligations consistent with this Privacy Policy, and on the condition that the third parties use your private personal data only on our behalf and pursuant to our instructions.
Law and Harm: Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Policy, we may preserve or disclose your information if we believe that it is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation or legal request; to protect the safety of any person; to address fraud, security or technical issues; or to protect Twitter's rights or property. However, nothing in this Privacy Policy is intended to limit any legal defenses or objections that you may have to a third party’s, including a government’s, request to disclose your information.
Business Transfers: In the event that Twitter is involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets, your information may be sold or transferred as part of that transaction. The promises in this Privacy Policy will apply to your information as transferred to the new entity.
Non-Private or Non-Personal Information: We may share or disclose your non-private, aggregated or otherwise non-personal information, such as your public user profile information, public Tweets, the people you follow or that follow you, or the number of users who clicked on a particular link (even if only one did).
Modifying Your Personal Information
If you are a registered user of our Services, we provide you with tools and account settings to access or modify the personal information you provided to us and associated with your account.
You can also permanently delete your Twitter account. If you follow the instructions here, your account will be deactivated and then deleted. When your account is deactivated, it is not viewable on Twitter.com. For up to 30 days after deactivation it is still possible to restore your account if it was accidentally or wrongfully deactivated. After 30 days, we begin the process of deleting your account from our systems, which can take up to a week.
Our Policy Towards Children
Our Services are not directed to persons under 13. If you become aware that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us at privacy@twitter.com. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we take steps to remove such information and terminate the child's account. You can find additional resources for parents and teens here.
EU Safe Harbor Framework
Twitter complies with the U.S.-E.U. and U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. To learn more about the Safe Harbor program, and to view our certification, please visit the U.S. Department of Commerce website.
Changes to this Policy
We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of the policy will govern our use of your information and will always be at https://twitter.com/privacy. If we make a change to this policy that, in our sole discretion, is material, we will notify you via an @Twitter update or email to the email address associated with your account. By continuing to access or use the Services after those changes become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy.
Effective: May 17, 2012
***
We actually do read all of the Terms & Conditions for the products and services we use.
Because of that we tend to avoid Google services. :)
Point of Principle: There is no such thing as “free”. Someone has to pay somewhere and somehow in the chain of events up to the “free” service and/or product.
That payment may be monetary as is the case for Credit Card and other reward programs, or may be the surrendering of any and all privacy with data held on the Cloud Service (Google, Facebook).
A quote from someone we really respect, but shall remain nameless, that really resonated with us as it gave an image to the feelings behind our not being involved in Facebook:
Posting everything and anything on Facebook is like giving a p0rnographer and their camera folks full permission to take up residence in one’s bedroom.
In the end, the _ONLY_ way to keep something “private” is to not publish it anywhere. Period.
And, in our super-connected world that is getting harder and harder to do.
Have a great day! :)
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
Windows Live Writer
