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What's your opinion on summarizing the ToS?

[ToS here]
Basically, it means you won't sue me.
[I accept][I don't accept]

Is this good practice or will this just get you sued more?

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If you T&C's are simple enough to summarize the whole thing in a single sentence then you might not be providing enough detail. Take a look at the 500px TOS (500px.com/terms) they have broken it all down into sections and provided a summary for each section. I think its very effective. –  Nippysaurus Jan 3 '13 at 0:24

2 Answers 2

up vote 6 down vote accepted

If you're worried about being sued, find a lawyer. A quick consultation will cost a whole lot less than any lawsuit that comes up because you were mistaken, and that's true regardless of whether you win or lose.

Moreover, if you try to write such a thing yourself, and you're not a lawyer, you're likely to screw it up in some way. You will overstep yourself and ask the user for more than is legally permissible, or you will leave ambiguities (and the courts are likely to resolve all ambiguities against you), or provide loopholes, or some combination of the three.

A simple disclaimer of responsibility, with no button for acceptance, is the most I'd dare do without legal advice, and I'd probably copy the disclaimer on the GPLv3, almost word for word.

(There's also the question of what this is a disclaimer for. Will it appeal to businesses or will it be recreational, or something else? Web service or software? There's all sorts of possibilities, and they can't all be treated the same.)

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Bad idea.

Essentially it creates ambiguity about what the user is agreeing to which is a bad thing for you (assuming that you have your ToS to protect you).

Something that sweeping almost certainly has no legal validity (it's too broad), so the summary offers you no additional protection and potentially just undermines the genuine content of the ToS.

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