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Privacy Law: What's a good resource for a U.S. based startup social network to begin building its first terms of service?
AJ
AJ
Antone Johnson, Tech General Counsel; ex Google, eHarmony, MySpace answered:

California licensed attorney here, former VP/head of legal at eHarmony and original MySpace legal team. This question falls right in my sweet spot.

At the risk of sounding preachy, TOS *and* Privacy Policy are best developed with the help of an experienced Internet lawyer. These form a contract between your startup and every person who uses the service — which, if you're successful, will number in the hundreds of thousands or millions. There are endless variations, including many items that are product-specific or unique to the location of the company. As you grow, these terms will lay the foundation for everything from banning abusive users to complying with DMCA takedown notices to handling refunds and credits if payment is involved.

There are no easy/cheap shortcuts, but I wrote a Quora post on this subject; the title says it all:

"How To Do What You Really Shouldn't Be Doing: 'Rolling Your Own' Website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy" - http://qr.ae/TvgyH

Happy to connect by Clarity to answer any questions or offer specific advice as appropriate. (This answer is general legal information, not advice.)

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