Terms Types Definitions

Name	Description
Terms of Service	concerns end user’s service usage
Privacy Policy	concerns end user’s personal data
Imprint	identification of content author and hosting service for official inquiries
Trackers Policy	concerns all tracking technologies, including cookies, session storage, fingerprints, etc.
Developer Terms	concerns APIs and programmatic access to content
Community Guidelines	concerns public behavior of the end user
Deceased Users	concerns handling of information of a deceased indiviudal
Acceptable Use Policy	concerns acceptable and unacceptable usage by the end user
Restricted Use Policy	concerns restrictions on specific usage by the end user
Commercial Terms	concerns business or commercial usage
Copyright Claims Policy	concerns how copyright complaints (DMCA…) will be handled
Law Enforcement Guidelines	concerns account records access
Human Rights Policy	concerns human rights
In-App Purchases Policy	concerns usage of virtual purchases
Review Guidelines	concerns review process of provided content
Brand Guidelines	concerns usage of the service provider’s brand
Quality Guidelines	concerns quality of content produced by means of the service
Data Controller Agreement	concerns treatment of end user personal data by data controllers (in the sense of GDPR)
Data Processor Agreement	concerns the status of the data processor (in the sense of GDPR) for the service provider
User Consent Policy	concerns user consent collection and storage by data controllers (in the sense of GDPR)
Closed Captioning Policy	concerns closed captioning on streamed content
Seller Warranty	concerns protection of end users that act as sellers
Single Sign-On Policy	concerns connecting user accounts to other services
Vulnerability Disclosure Policy	concerns how to report a security vulnerability or issue
Live Policy	concerns end user’s live service usage
Complaints Policy	concerns how generic complaints will be handled
Conditions of Carriage	concerns benefits and limitations associated with the transportation being provided by transportation operators such as airlines, railways, buses, etc.)
General Conditions of Sale	concerns the warranty, delivery, return of goods or services bought through a monetary transaction
Marketplace Buyers Conditions	concerns buying through a monetary transaction goods or services offered by sellers other than the marketplace itself
Marketplace Sellers Conditions	concerns selling through a monetary transaction goods or services to buyers other than the marketplace itself
Frequently Asked Questions	frequently asked questions about the service, its policies
Coporate Social Responsibility	concerns practices integrating social, environmental and profit-related considerations
Social Media Policy	service provider guidance on how employees should act on social media
Uniform Disclosure	used to disclose certain information to end users
Affiliate Disclosure	statement informing users that companies compensate you for promoting, reviewing, or recommending their products or services
Safety Guidelines	service provider protocols to ensure online safety
Telephone Communication Guidelines	restrictions on telephone solicitations (i.e. telemarketing) and the use of automated phone equipment
Records Keeping Policy	policies in handling of user records in the event of bankruptcy or data transfer
Service Level Agreement	outlines a commitment between a service provider and a client
Legal Information	documentation covering miscellaneous policies, notices, and disclaimers
Policy	generic policies not included in privacy policy coverage
About	generic information pages
Miscellaneous Agreement	various agreements published by the service
Ranking Parameters Description	concerns search engine or intermediation service provider parameters determining ranking and the reasons for their relative importance
Premium Partner Conditions	concerns sellers' eligibility criteria, limitations and benefits of a privileged seller status programme
Platform to Business Notice	concerns complaints handling, mediation, transparency and other rights and information mandated by the P2B regulation
Business Mediation Policy	concerns business users' eligibility and process of mediation after internal complaints handling failed
Business Privacy Policy	concerns personal data of business users and of people acting on their behalf

Terms Types

Terms Types are an ontology describing all known sorts of terms and conditions to the Open Terms Archive project.

It aims at unifying the many names that services give to similar documents to enable comparison of terms across services no matter how they are named by their provider.

Installation

npm install @opentermsarchive/terms-types

Usage

import TERMS_TYPES from '@opentermsarchive/terms-types';

console.log(TERMS_TYPES['Terms of Service']); // Display `Terms of Service` details

console.log(Object.keys(TERMS_TYPES)); // Display all terms types

Data structure

This repository contains a database of types of terms of service (“agreement”, “policy”, “guidelines”…) under which a service is delivered.

The termsTypes.json JSON file is a map of title cased terms types.

The types might not always match the exact name given by the service provider. For example, some providers might call their document “Terms and Conditions” or “Terms of Use” instead of “Terms of Service”. The terms type does not have to match the exact name, it only has to match the commitment that is taken.

Name

The name of each type is written with title capitalisation (every noun is capitalised).

It should be the most commonly used and most internationally understandable for this type.

Use singular

For consistency, the term “Policy” in a type name should only be used singular (“policy”), never plural (“policies”). Similarly, all terms types should have a singular name.

Alternative names

Some terms types might have several commonly-used names, often varying by jurisdiction. To increase discoverability and clarity, alternative names can be provided to terms types. These alternative names are not translations, but rather synonyms in English. They are provided in an array under the also known as key.

Examples:

• "Hyperlinks Policy" : { "also known as": [ "Links Policy", "Linking Policy" ], … }
• "Whistleblower Policy": { "also known as": [ "Whistleblower Protections" ], … }

Triptych

In order to guide usage and disambiguate synonyms, each terms type is characterised by a triptych along the three dimensions of the commitment that is being taken in it:

• the writer of the document, in most cases the service provider itself;
• the targeted audience whose rights and duties are defined in the associated terms;
• the object of the commitment, i.e. the information or interaction whose handling will be constrained by the associated terms.

Each type thus has the following structure, where all fields are required:

{
  "<Terms Type Name>": {
    "commitment": {
      "writer": "<writer>",
      "audience": "<audience>",
      "object": "<object>"
    }
  }
}

References

It may also contain an optional references property which contains a map of related resources that may help to understand the purpose of this type, such as legal definitions, or the discussions that led to the choice of this name. Each reference must have a name and a URL.

{
  "<Terms Type Name>": {
    "commitment": { … },
    "references": {
      "<reference name>": "<URL where the reference can be found>"
    }
  },
}

Legal references

Legal references will be prefixed by the flag emoji of the jurisdiction of enactment, will use the full name of the law, and will link to the official journal URL.

Examples:

• "🇬🇧 Bribery Act 2010": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/23/contents"
• "🇫🇷 Loi n°2005-102 du 11 février 2005 pour l'égalité des droits et des chances, la participation et la citoyenneté des personnes handicapées, article 47": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/article_jo/JORFARTI000001290363"

Example

"Whistleblower Policy": {
  "also known as": [
    "Whistleblower Protections"
  ],
  "commitment": {
    "writer": "service provider",
    "audience": "employees",
    "object": "reporting on suspected misconduct and illegal acts and prevention of retaliation"
  },
  "references": {
    "Open Terms Archive discussion": "https://github.com/OpenTermsArchive/terms-types/discussions/37",
    "🇺🇸 Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-103/pdf/STATUTE-103-Pg16.pdf",
    "🇫🇷 Loi n°2016-1691 du 9 décembre 2016 relative à la transparence, à la lutte contre la corruption et à la modernisation de la vie économique, dite « Sapin II »": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000033558528"
  }
}

How to define the triptych

To identify the triptych of specific terms, answer the following questions:

1. Who is responsible for creating and maintaining those terms? Most often, it will be the service provider itself. Sometimes, while still being the service provider, it could be that only providers from a certain industry could write such terms, such as transportation operator.
2. Who is the target audience whose rights and duties are defined? Often, it will be the end user, but it can also be the commercial partners or business users, for example.
3. Which information or interaction precisely is constrained by those terms? For example, the end users’ personal data, or maybe the privileged seller status programme. Try to be as specific as possible, as this precision enables distinguishing between otherwise similar types.

After having answered these questions, if reading out loud the triptych, it sounds right to say that “these terms describe how the <writer> commits to handle the <object> for its <audience>”.

Add new terms types

Contributions to expand the list of known terms types are welcome, but need to follow a strict design, review and validation process in order to ensure consistency in the ontology. If you'd like to suggest a new type, please follow the process detailed in the CONTRIBUTING file.

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License

The code for this software is distributed under the European Union Public Licence (EUPL) v1.2. Contact the author if you have any specific need or question regarding licensing.