Re: [Ekiga-list] Privacy policy of Ekiga

[schoappied <schoappied gmail com>]

Damien Sandras wrote:
> Le lundi 17 mars 2008 à 21:41 +0100, schoappied a écrit :
>
> [...]
>
>   
> > > However, it can not harm if we add such a notice somewhere. It is on the
> > > TODO :
> > > http://wiki.ekiga.org/index.php/Ekiga.net_VoIP_service_subscription#What_about_privacy_and_VoIP_services_.3F
> > >   
> > >       
> > Thanks for your replies.
> >
> > I do disagree with your statements about that privacy statements is only 
> > or more needed for commercial services or organisations.  I agree with 
> > you that some  issues are more likely to happen when the service or 
> > organisation is commercial (e.g. selling information to third party's). 
> > But the chance that for example, others can get access to stored chat 
> > sessions (don't like to find my chat with my girlfriend on Google) or 
> > that people inside or outside the project will misuse the service, seems 
> > to me almost equal, and has nothing to do with open source or community 
> > based.
> >
> > I'm pleased that the 'statement/ policy' is on the TODO list. Although I 
> > think it's more important then just 'it can not harm'. I think the 
> > service and the software will be better for us, the users, if we know 
> > what the policy of Ekiga is and we don't have to worry about the 
> > privacy. I also think that more people want to switch  from  Skype to 
> > Ekiga if Ekiga can give some clear statements and guarantees about the 
> > privacy, because I know that there're a lot of people who do not like 
> > the policy of Skype or are a doubting about the policy of (for them) 
> > vague 'open source' communities.
> >
> > Please let me know if your policy is on the website, so I can know if 
> > and/ or how information is stored and how I can remove that or prevent 
> > it. I promise that I'll try Ekiga when I can agree with your policy ;)
> >     
>
> I'm not really a legal person. 
What do you mean?

> Moreover English is not my native
> language.
>   
Not mine too, that's dutch...
> Could you propose some text that we can put on the website after a
> review ? 
>
> Only email addresses and first name / last name informations are stored
> in a database. This information will not be made public or given to
> third-parties.
>   
I'd like to help you, although I do not have  any experience  with this 
kind of stuff.

I think what you can do is putting on your website how Ekiga handles 
information. So saying that information will not be made public or given 
to third parties is a start. Maybe you can make it possible to register 
without having to give your first and family name? Often there's a '*'  
for the information which is  absolutely needed and the further 
information is optional.... You can make first and family name optional.

Further you can use the skype privacy statements as a example. They give 
answers to a couple of 'possible' questions.

http://www.skype.com/legal/privacy/general/

Look what's relevant to Ekiga and answer them, don't use the ones which 
a irrelevant to Ekiga and think if there're other questions/ answers 
which are relevant to the project.  Keep it short.

/'Basically, I do not want to give any guarantee about anything as an
individual (imagine the server gets cracked for some reason, I do not
want to be held responsible for that).'

/I think you can say that you will not be responsible for anything, a 
sort of disclaimer.

Here's a example of Ubuntu/ Canonical's website:


     /Disclaimer/

/This website and all information, products and services on it are 
provided on an “as is” basis, without warranty of any kind, either 
express or implied. Your use of this website is at your own risk. 
Canonical Ltd. disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including 
without limitation, warranties of merchantability and fitness for a 
particular purpose. /

/Canonical Ltd. disclaims liability for any direct, indirect, 
incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, punitive or other 
damages, or lost profits, that may result directly or indirectly from 
the use of this website and any material that is downloaded or obtained 
through the use of this website. /

/This includes, without limitation, any damage to computer systems, 
hardware or software, loss of data, or any other performance failures, 
any errors, bugs, viruses or other defects that result from, or are 
associated with the use of this website. /

/Yes, it gives most of us a headache to read all of this, but it's 
important so thank you for your patience and now, enjoy the site!
/

/
/I don't know if you are from the Dutch speaking site of Belgium...? 
Maybe you can give me the information and I think I can ask someone who 
can give a good English translation, or better, maybe there's someone on 
the list who can write English very well?

Regards,

Dirk