A friend and I are starting an online-resume website similar to some other ones in existence already. Because personal details are collected from users and displayed online (possibly publicly, but this is controllable by the user), we need a Terms And Conditions and Privacy POlicy, as I understand. I was wondering what the deal is with these legal documents, generally. I have created a Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy myself, based on similar websites and believe virtually all aspects are covered. What we don't want, is someone sueing us for whatever reason and then we don't have a (legal) foot to stand on. So, in order to get these privacy policies drawn up, we were thinking of getting it done with an IT Lawyer. The issue is we don't want to spend an arm and a leg on this either. So was just wondering if anyone had suggestions as to the best way to approach this would be? In terms of cost-saving and also sufficient legal coverage ... perhaps if someone knows of a low-cost qualified IT lawyer (ideally based in Australia or knows Australian IT law) that'd be awesome. gvanto legal stuff newbie
Most ToS are just a template that a lawyer draws up and uses for any clients he gets, changing a fw things here and there. You should be fine with going around and bowsing sites similar to yours (especially Aus. based sites). Don't just copy them, but go around and see what everyone else has, that should give you an idea as to what is needed, as most of the larger sites have had a lawyer draw these up. Like I said, don't copy them, but get an idea from several sites, put something together, and add some things you know you want yourself to be covered for. If you browse these forums to last month there is a link in a post to a privacy policy generator, can't remember it, but its pretty cut and dry.
Just be careful -- I once came across someone who, instead of using someone else's to try to get an idea, copied it word for word. I guess it would have been okay, seeing that they have a similar website and all -- but he forgot to change the company name on the document. It still had his competitor's business name and everything!
cheers iBBnet, We got a (cheap) lawyer in the end ... to do the job properly so no risk-taking on that!