Updated Steemit.com Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Hello Steemians,
In this post, we want to discuss the recent updates to our Terms of Service (ToS) and Privacy Policy as well as respond to some of the feedback we received from the community as we attempted to apply changes to the website earlier this week.
ToS and Privacy Policy Updates
We had three primary objectives with respect to the recent updates. The first was to improve the language relating to the various components of the Steem blockchain. The second was to provide better guidance for the use of our trademarks and branding (while we develop our branding guidelines) by community developers. Finally, we wanted to clarify the differences between using the Steem blockchain and the services that we provide for our users.
The privacy policy updates were made to comply with the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements.
We also included a change to automatically prompt users to re-accept the ToS and Privacy Policy any time new versions are created. This ensures that users can always review and accept the latest terms every time there is a change.
We believe that the updates provide more clarity and that this will benefit both users and developers in the long run, but we welcome any feedback that could make them even more helpful.
Initial Rollout
Unfortunately, the initial rollout was not executed to our standards. Many users could not open the links to view the new ToS and Privacy Policy before accepting the changes. There were also some deficiencies in the text. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused. We have done our best to address the issues and to ensure they never happen again.
We want to thank everyone who took the time to bring these issues to our attention. We received a lot of valuable feedback from the community. A new ToS and Privacy Policy was published today, integrating much of the feedback we received. Thank you for all the helpful suggestions!
Anyone who previously accepted the ToS and Privacy Policy without being able to view them will be given a new prompt today to view and accept the latest terms.
Feedback Welcome
If you find any areas in the ToS or Privacy Policy confusing or you think any areas should be updated, please let us know. We will be happy to review them and see if we can make additional updates.
Thank you,
Team Steemit
Is there a way to reverse the acceptance, and choose to un-accept and no longer use the site thereafter if one changes their mind? That would be a good option to have somewhere.
Exactly, most people don't know about busy.org so they will think they have to accept this to use their account.
Once they learn busy.org is another option they may want to opt out.
Busy.org is an alternet service/site to access steemit blockchain content and wallet?
Steem = Blockchain
Steemit = ui
Busy.org = ui
Busy accesses the Steem blockchain.
All of your stuff is on the Steem blockchain, not the Steemit website.
I’m happy to see the Trademark section dropped mention of Steem, and only lists Steemit as a trademark. That had been my prior understanding and I was confused when it previously read otherwise. No problems accepting here!
That was my question; so all the people who make swag with the blue Steem logo are fine, right? It's the green talk bubbles they can't use?
Correct to my understanding. Steem & the Steem wave logo are free to use, but Steemit and it’s logo are privately owned by Steemit inc. Here’s the post when the new logo launched that detailed Steem being under Creative Commons License and Steemit being trademarked.
Awesome, thanks!
Green talk bubbles? More like chicken-fidget spinner hybrid or punk rock ghost :D
Ooh punk rock ghosts are fun at a seance. 😁
Or maybe it's a gladiator's helmet.
Yupp, that was a valuable update! :-)
Is it possible to display a diff with the changes on a pop-up and include links to the full TOS and PP?
Nowadays it’s impossible to convince people to read policies... short diff could be some kind of solution ;-)
This looks like the change with all the diffs:
https://github.com/steemit/condenser/pull/2876/files
What should our concerns with the revisions be Tim?
TIA.....
I cannot answer that.
K...thanks, anyway.
I love the new level of communication! Keep it up.
I suspect you will get a lot of feedback, and not all of it good. :)
Fully agreed, @whatsup! :-)
A message pops out on my screen every now and then asking me to accept the reviewed terms and conditions and even when I accept, It appears again on my next login, could you please fix this?
It is deeply flawed that one must agree to the terms before having a chance to read them.
Maybe not everywhere, but that’s what happens in an iPhone/Safari environment.
That did not happen for me. Two places to check for agreeing and a submit button. Nothing else.
The latest changes were tested with iOS/Safari and iOS/Chrome on multiple device types. There are links for both the Terms Of Service and Privacy Policy, and they are viewable without actually accepting them first. Can you please list your device type and/or steps to reproduce?
See the screenshot below of how it looks on iOS/Safari. There are links to both documents available. To be clear, are you saying this is not the case for you?
I saw it as text rather than as hyperlinks. I suppose it’s possible I’m mistaken if others have not had that experience.
I cannot entirely rule out pilot error.
I honestly didn’t notice the links myself... but I knew I was accepting regardless! After I clicked thru I found the terms in the side menu and gave them a scan. I’m pretty sure I just overlooked the link, but adding one of those functionalities where it won’t let you accept unless you’ve clicked both links would probably be more thorough.
Are you able to provide a screen shot of what you saw? I tried on my iPhone and it worked fine. Also, what version of iPhone device are you using?
I didn’t seem to have any choice so I clicked on agree; did not screen shot it.
iPhone SE running on iOS 11.3.1
The user experience is bit janky , you can click on the highlighted green text of TOS and it opens in new window.
I was able to read them before agreeing, but not on Apple, and maybe there was an issue with the system yesterday.
You guys have a grammar mistake in "... you will be may not be able to ..." It should be "you may not be able to." I think Steemit copied this from other services. See my related post here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@blockchainstudio/a-grammar-mistake-in-the-steemit-tos
In the future it would be nice to roll out a post like this a day to a few weeks before the policy actually changes so there are times to ask questions voice our concerns.
I could not agree more. I am currently unable to accept the ToS I was availed, and have been awaiting response from [email protected] to resolve concerns. Since I cannot use Steemit without accepting the ToS (as it blocks every page I open on Steemit), and I cannot accept the ToS prior to my concerns being addressed, I am presently only able to post and read posts via other UX.
This isn't optimal for Steemit, nor I. I have been a fanboy of Steemit since I found it, and had no desire to migrate. The failure to allow me to resolve my concerns prior to accepting the ToS has forced me off the platform.
I'm quite confused about what they're trying to say here. Is there any account data stored on Steemit and only there that we need to back up (how?) in order to keep our blockchain account functioning in the eventuality of Steemit site being discontinued? I was under the impression our Private keys is all we needed. Is that false?
I whould like clarity on this one aswell.