AOL

​

Not to be deterred by the snide remarks and thinly-veiled judgment reserved for people with @aol.com email addresses, AOL comes in at a solid #44 ranking. AOL's terms are composed of their Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Community Guidelines. As you will see on the pages for each policy, these are Oath, Inc. policies, AOL's parent company that is owned by Verizon. Oath also owns Yahoo, but has chosen to bifurcate the terms, despite my sneaking suspicion that they may have a significant crossover in their user base. The biggest issue with the overall policy is that it is very broad & provides a lot of immunity to Oath for things that go wrong on the site. One positive in the sharing portion is the full disclosure of the full list of Oath companies that share data freely.

​

Representations, Warranties, & Limits on Liability

 

WE SUPPLY OUR SERVICES “AS IS,” “WITH ALL FAULTS,” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” WE DO NOT WARRANT OR GUARANTEE THAT ANY INFORMATION AVAILABLE USING OUR SERVICES IS ACCURATE OR RELIABLE OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR FREE FROM ERROR. WE, OUR SUPPLIERS, AND AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS GIVE NO EXPRESS WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES NOR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WORKMANLIKE EFFORT, AND NON-INFRINGMENT.

YOUR ONLY REMEDY FOR ANY DEFECTIVE SOFTWARE IS REPLACEMENT OF THE SOFTWARE. IN ANY OTHER DISPUTE WITH US, YOUR ONLY REMEDY IS TO STOP USING YOUR ACCOUNT AND CANCEL ANY FEE-BASED SERVICES. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF SERVICE FEES PAID DURING A ONE-MONTH PERIOD.

WE, OUR SUPPLIERS, AND AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES.

SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW US TO LIMIT OUR LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUDE CERTAIN WARRANTIES. IN THOSE STATES, OATH’S LIABILITY AND WARRANTIES ARE LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

​

Indemnification

 

As of the 6.13.2017 version, there is not indemnification provision in the terms.

​

Key Definitions

• "Oath"- Oath, Inc. and its parents, successors, subsidiaries, affiliates, and family of brands.

• "Services"- products, services, software, websites, and other goods and services offered, owned, or operated by Oath Inc.

• Full List

​

Sharing Agreements

 

We use the information we collect and receive for the following general purposes:

• To provide our Services. We use the information we collect and receive to provide you with the Services you use or request. For example:

  • If you request local movie show times from Moviefone, we might use your location information to provide you with times at nearby theaters;

  • If you sign up to receive the daily headlines from HuffPost, we'll use your email address to deliver them to you; and

  • If you ask us to remember your login information for Oath Services, we'll use information stored in cookies when you return to those websites.

• To improve our Services. We also use the information we collect and receive to provide content and advertising that people are likely to find relevant and engaging. For example:

  • If we notice that HuffPost users in general prefer national political commentary, we might put that content in a special place on the website or in the app; and

  • If we receive information from users that a Service isn't working properly, we may use that information to address any problem.

• To provide effective advertising. Many of our Services are supported by advertising, and some of our Services provide advertising across your devices on our own and others’ websites and apps. Learn more about Advertising, Analytics and Privacy on our Services.

 

How We Share the Information We Collect and Receive

We don't rent or sell personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes. But we may share certain information we collect or receive with our affiliates and others to respond to your requests, provide our Services, when we have your consent, or as described in this Privacy Policy.

We may share information with:

• Affiliates. The information an Oath affiliate receives can be shared among other Oath affiliates, including the Verizon family of companies. Oath affiliates may use the information consistent with their privacy policies.

• Business partners. We may share non-personally identifiable information with select business partners, who may use the information for a variety of purposes, including to provide you with relevant advertising.

• Other parties in response to legal process or when necessary to protect our Services. We may disclose your information-including the contents of your communications-in response to legal process or other legal purposes, including when we have a good faith belief that:

  • It is necessary to respond to lawful governmental requests or legal process (for example, a court order, search warrant, or subpoena);

  • The information is relevant to a crime that has been or is being committed;

  • An emergency exists that poses a threat to your safety or the safety of another person; or

  • It is necessary to protect the rights or property of Oath.

• Other parties in connection with certain business transactions. In the event that the ownership of Oath or an affiliate or their assets changes as a result of a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or in the unlikely event of a bankruptcy, your information may be transferred to another company. If we believe a transfer results in a material change in the use of the information we've collected or received about you, you will receive notice and be offered choices consistent with applicable law.

• Companies that provide services to us.  Companies that provide services to us or act on our behalf may have access to information about you. These companies are limited in their ability to use information they receive in the course of providing services to us.

​