In case you haven’t heard, Google is unveiling a new privacy policy on March 1, 2012. This new policy will sweep across (almost) all its services, rather than each site or product having its own privacy policy. This makes sense, but some people are decrying it as a violation of Google’s mantra, “Don’t be evil.” Since Google has probably sunk its claws into you in some manner, it’s important to know how this new privacy policy will affect you. And now you can find out without needing to read all that fine print.

(Note: If you’re not familiar with key terms like cookie, IP address, or pixel tags, you may want to look at Google’s term definitions first.)

1. Information Gathering. Google gathers information about you two ways: first is information you give to Google, like when you sign up for a Google account and provide your name and other information. The other way is to scour the Google services you use for particular pieces of information such as the device you are using, your location, the operating system you are using, and information from cookies, among other things. Of particular interest is the information gathered through server logs, which includes your specific searches, telephone call information (such as number, duration, carrier, etc.), your IP address, information about your device (including system activity and hardware settings), and cookies that identify your browser or Google account.

2. Information Use. Of course, Google uses your information to develop its products and to tailor ad and search content to your preferences. But there are other uses for that information as well. If another Google user knows your email address or other identifying information, Google will display your name and picture to that user. They will also collect information on websites visited and some email (based on pixel tags) “to improve your user experience and the overall quality of our services”—whatever that means. As part of this privacy policy consolidation, Google will also be able to aggregate all the personal information it has for you on any of its sites or services, meaning that they will now have  a much fuller understanding of you.

3. Your Control Over Your Information. Google purports to allow you to control how your information is used (although not what information is collected). For example, you can review and control certain types of information tied to your Google account with Google Dashboard. Or you can edit your ad preferences or even opt out of some Google advertising services. You can even take information out of some of Google’s services. This last one may be difficult to control, though, as presumably that information is continually collected and will be collected again.

4. Sharing With Others. Google will not share your personal information with companies, organizations, or individuals outside of Google unless: (1) you consent to have the information shared; (2) your Google services are managed by a domain administrator or another third party that provides support; (3) Google hires an outside party to process the information for them; or (4) for legal reasons, such as enforcing applicable laws or preventing fraud or security issues. The domain administrators category seems like a difficult one to understand, if only because the domain administrator may have its own contradictory privacy policy, and its policies may allow it to do anything you would do with your own account. In that case, it seems more like your beef would be with the domain administrator rather than Google.

5. Information Security. Access to personal information is restricted to only those people who need access to it for purposes of processing it (be they Google employees, contractors, or third parties), and these people must sign strict confidentiality agreements to have access to the information.

6. No Opt-Out. Notably, there is no option to opt out of sharing your information with Google anymore, while still using its products anyway. Presumably you could stop using Google products and avoid most of their data collection, but that seems pretty unlikely at this point. There really is no provision allowing you to even call or write a letter, like some other privacy policies allow. There just is no opting out of Google’s information collection as of March 1, 2012.

That’s about all that really grabs my attention as I read the new privacy policy. It actually doesn’t seem that different from prior privacy policies Google has instituted, and is not that surprising. The big concern seems to be that Google can aggregate all your information from all its various services. I don’t know how much of that information is duplicated, but I’m not worried that Google will suddenly know significantly more about me than it did before.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know in the comments and I will try to address them. If you have problems, you can contact Google here.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/4105726930/)

Recently Progressive auto insurance has been making a push for customers to join their Snapshot driving monitoring program. For Snapshot, customers plug a device into the computer port in their car and it monitors miles driven, time of day you are driving, and the number of “hard brakes”—defined as decreasing in speed at least 7 miles per hour per second. If Progressive likes your driving habits, you can earn a discount on your insurance of up to 30%. I recently signed up for the service, so I thought I would read through the Progressive Snapshot Participation Terms and Conditions (PDF) and share my analysis here.

1. Recorded Information. The Snapshot device records vehicle speed and time information (times when driving), vehicle identification number, G force, and when the device is connected or disconnected from the vehicle. Progressive the determines miles driven, and rates of acceleration and braking from the collected information. There is no GPS, although with your consent Progressive can determine the location of the vehicle via cellular signal.

2. Returning the Device. When the program is over or when you are finished with the program, the device needs to be returned to Progressive “in a timely manner,” and in good condition. If it is not returned according to these parameters (or not returned at all), your Progressive policy can be charged up to $75. Additional documentation that came with my Snapshot device said it would be $50, but the terms and conditions are typically what govern these situations, so you should assume that Progressive can charge up to $75 for damaged or unreturned devices.

3. Use of Information. By enrolling in Snapshot, you are consenting to Progressive retaining and using the information gathered from the device. Once the device is returned, the information will be wiped from it, but Progressive will still retain copies of the information. Progressive might also use the Snapshot information if you are in an accident, and you may be required to preserve and provide the information if a lawsuit occurs due to the accident. Interestingly, if you file an insurance claim with Progressive, they will not use the Snapshot data to resolve the claim unless they receive your permission first. I assume that if you refused, Progressive would claim that you are hindering their investigation and may not process the claim fully, but nothing about this is noted in the Snapshot terms and conditions.

4. Discount (or Surcharge). The Snapshot data will be used to determine your discount (if any) or surcharge (in Rhode Island). This only applies to bodily injury, property damage, and collision coverage. Interestingly, a “technology expense” may be added to your bill to cover the cost of the device and the amount Progressive needs to pay to have the data sent to them. That seems like a disincentive to me.

5. Pricing Model 1. Different states have different pricing models. Depending on your state (a list of which is not provided in the terms and conditions, but the per-state pricing model is listed on Progressive’s website), your pricing may be determined (a) when the policy begins, or (b) at the time the Snapshot is installed in the vehicle. The discount may also be removed if the Snapshot is not installed in a timely manner, resulting in a premium increase. Renewal of this type of pricing applies to each policy period (usually 6 months) based on the previous 12 months’ driving data, and the pricing may vary from period to period.

6. Pricing Model 2. The initial discount will be based on the first 30 days of driving data. After 75 days of driving a second driving score will be given, which will determine your discount going forward until  (a) Progressive decides to collect more driving data, or (b) Progressive revises the discount factors. After the second driving discount has been established, you will be notified that you need to return the device, postage paid by Progressive.

7. Premature Removal or Disconnection. If the Snapshot device is disconnected prematurely or if a pattern of disconnections suggests that the driving data collected may not be representative of actual driving, the second discount determination may be affected or revoked altogether.

That’s pretty much all that is of note in the Snapshot terms and conditions. If you have any questions about my analysis, please let me know in the comments.

Many of us have seen the offers to extend your electronic product’s warranty on eBay or Amazon by purchasing an extended warranty from a company called SquareTrade. SquareTrade offers warranties or warranty extensions for electronics for a claimed 60–70% off. Not bad. But the question is what you are actually buying when you purchase a warranty from SquareTrade. That’s what this week’s Fine Print Friday aims to find out.

SquareTrade considerately provides a one-and-a-half-page “plain English” version of the SquareTrade Service Agreement (PDF) prior to the main service agreement, which is a great feature. I love when companies provide these summaries, but it’s still nice to read through the fine print and see precisely what you are bound to. So the following analysis is straight from the fine print, not the “plain English” translation.

1. Coverage: The warranty covers mechanical or electrical failure of the product for which you purchased the warranty. You need to have been using the product normally (e.g., not using your iPhone as a hammer), and SquareTrade will only repair/replace the item if it is not covered by another warranty at the time. Some things that are not covered are normal wear and tear, theft or loss, battery leakage, cosmetic damage that does not affect the operation of the device, television/monitor screen imperfections, equipment intended for heavy commercial or industrial use, consumable items such as ink or toner, damage to computers from software or viruses, and jewelry or watches that are refurbished at the time of purchase. There are other unsurprising items that are not covered as well. For a full list of what is not covered, see section 10 on page 5 of the Service Agreement.

2. Optional Accidental Damage from Handling: Accidental Damage from Handling (or ADH) coverage is optional additional coverage you can purchase for your device, providing warranty coverage for drops, spills and liquid damage. ADH still does not protect you in the case of theft or loss, abuse of the product, cosmetic damage, or damage caused during shipping—that last one includes shipping between SquareTrade’s service providers and you. Presumably that would be covered by the shipper, although it is not spelled out in the Service Agreement, so it might be a good idea to buy the shipping insurance when shipping your device for repair.

3. Watch Coverage: Watches are covered for parts and labor for defects in workmanship and wear and tear, and covers the watch band, case, crown, cracked crystal, etc. Repair to watches involves you paying for the repair first and SquareTrade reimbursing you, but you should call them about using the warranty prior to getting the watch repaired.

4. Repair and Replacement: Depending on the circumstances, SquareTrade will do one of the following: (a) repair the item, (b) provide cash or a gift card up to the coverage amount, or (c) provide a new or refurbished item with equivalent features and functionality. Two things to note here: (1) The “coverage amount” may not be the full replacement price for your covered device. Each time you use the warranty service, the value of that repair or replacement is subtracted from the coverage amount. That means that only so much repair or replacement will be covered according to dollars in addition to time. (See section 8 of the Service Agreement for more detail on how this works.) (2) It is possible that a replacement device will not be new, and it is also possible that it will not be the same device. So long as it has equivalent features and functionality, it can be substituted for your broken device under this agreement.

5. Your Responsibilities: In order to be able to submit a claim, you need to have the complete receipt for the item you purchased. SquareTrade offers to store a copy of your receipt for you, or you can just hold onto it yourself. I would think that having SquareTrade store a copy and keeping a copy for yourself would be your best bet to make sure that it is available should you need to make use of your coverage. You also need to have selected the right protection plan for your device (no guidance is given as to what happens if you select the wrong plan, or what an incorrect plan is considered to be—does coverage for an iPhone 4 cover an iPhone 4S?). Finally, you need to handle your device with care, maintain it properly, and use it according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

6. Lemons: If your covered device has the same problem repaired 4 times within 12 months, on the fourth instance, SquareTrade will replace the device for you rather than repair it again. The cost of the replacement will not be more than the original purchase price, although that’s not likely to happen anyway given how technology drops in price over time.

7. Surge Protection: Your SquareTrade warranty does cover problems with the device due to power surges so long as the device was plugged into a UL-approved surge protector. Good deal.

8. Free Shipping: For all repair work that requires shipping, your shipping will be paid for by SquareTrade, including shipping to the manufacturer if the manufacturer does not provide shipping coverage.

9. Worldwide Service: SquareTrade’s policy also applies when you travel outside the country. If the device needs to be repaired in a foreign country, you will first need to call SquareTrade to receive an authorization number. Then the device needs to be brought to an authorized repair shop, the repair needs to be paid for by the owner, and the owner needs to apply for reimbursement. It’s a bit more of a hassle than if the problem occurs stateside, but at least it’s still covered regardless of your destination.

And that’s about it for SquareTrade’s Service Agreement. If you need to contact SquareTrade, you can do so by going to http://www.squaretrade.com or by calling 1-877-927-7268.

Fine Print Friday: KinderCare Learning Centers Enrollment Agreement

KinderCare (run by the Knowledge Learning Corporation) is the largest child care provider in the United States, with more than 1,900 early childhood community education centers spread throughout 39 states and the District of Columbia. Since over 200,000 children are enrolled at KinderCare locations throughout the country, I thought it would make sense to look at the agreements made by the parents of those children, which are required for enrollment. Here are some points of interest scattered throughout the KinderCare Enrollment Agreement. (PDF)

1. Medical Policies. If your child becomes ill at a KinderCare center, the staff will let you know and you must pick up the child no later than one hour after being contacted. If the child is infected with a contagious disease, s/he will not be allowed back without a physician’s note indicating that s/he is no longer contagious. If there is a medical emergency and the parent/guardian cannot be reached, KinderCare is authorized to take emergency measures, and requested religious exemptions will only be granted if authorized by state child care licensing authorities.

2. Fees. Tuition and fees are set by each individual center, and are assessed weekly or monthly. KinderCare does not give any tuition breaks or refunds due to holiday closures, closures due to severe weather, or any other scheduled or unscheduled closures. Yikes. Additionally, tuition will not be pro-rated and all tuition is due in advance of service. This is in addition to an annual $100 registration fee that is non-refundable, and which is re-assessed every time a child re-enrolls after dropping out, even if it takes place within the same year. Two weeks’ notice must be given before terminating the service, and if it is not given, KinderCare will assess the full amount for two weeks’ tuition. Finally, if there is a credit (prepay) balance of less than $10 on your account, KinderCare will not send it back to you unless you request it in writing within 90 days after termination of services. Ick.

3. Pick Up. Late fees are assessed for each child left past closing time, and if a child is left at a center for more than 30 minutes, KinderCare’s staff can release the child into the care of child protective services. That said, KinderCare’s policy for ensuring only authorized pick up of children is very strong, and only allows unlisted individuals to pick up children if either (a) there has been prior written notice given by the parent, or (b) the parent calls in to authorize the unlisted individual and answers the security questions listed on the Enrollment Agreement.

4. Safety. No guarantees of safety are made. None. In fact, the safety of the children is not even addressed in the Enrollment Agreement aside from the medical information and emergency care sections. KinderCare’s website addresses safety extensively, but that is not contractually binding and there is no statement guaranteeing the reliability of any of the points laid out on that page. “We are serious about training for earthquakes, fires, and lockdown situations” is nice, but there is no measurable quality and no assurance of safety.

5. Education. The full name of the company is KinderCare Learning Center, although there is no assurance of education in the Enrollment Agreement, nor any reference to any other location where educational standards and expectations can be found. Many of the centers are accredited by various accreditation bodies, but there is no requirement that a KinderCare center be accredited. There is no doubt that children will learn while they are at KinderCare’s centers, and the website provides plenty of information about their education programming, but there is no listing of curricula or standards of education for the children provided in the Enrollment Agreement.

In all, KinderCare seems like a decent child care center, and I have no reason to doubt the quality of their care or programs. But this site is about contractual agreements and the ability to rely on the agreements you make. KinderCare’s Enrollment Agreement guarantees very little, other than that they will make sure they get paid–even on days off. Between the fees, the lack of safety guarantees, and not addressing learning standards, it’s not a great contract. The Enrollment Agreement doesn’t even limit their liability, which makes me think the agreement was not taken seriously when drafting it. As the largest child care provider in the country, I would expect a bit more.

This just means that consumers have to be that much more careful when choosing a day care provider, and parents need to understand that they cannot rely on what it says on the website–only what is written in the documents they sign.

That does it for another Fine Print Friday. If you have ideas for other consumer contracts you would like to see under the microscope, send them my way. Or perhaps you would like to see a competitor’s comparison to this post or a previous Fine Print Friday entry. Let me know and I will try to get to as many of your suggestions as I can.

Since Amazon just announced that its Prime program will soon begin lending books to its Kindle owners, I thought now would be a good time to examine Amazon Prime’s Terms and Conditions to look for interesting or nasty provisions that you might want to know about.

1. Up to 5 Users per Prime Account. In case you weren’t aware of this, Amazon Prime members can invite up to 4 other “invitees” to use their membership benefits. This applies to either family members or business associates (depending on the type of account). However, only the original account holder can use the additional services such as instant streaming video. I assume this restriction will apply to the new Kindle book-lending service, as well, but we will have to wait and see once that is made part of the terms and conditions.

2. Geographic Limitations. Prime is limited to certain products being shipped to continental United States addresses. That means that Alaska, Hawaii, PO boxes, APO/FPO, and United States territories, possessions, and protectorates (e.g., Puerto Rico) are out. That said, members are still entitled to free Standard shipping to PO boxes in the continental United States and APO/FPO address with United States zip codes.

3. Method of Payment. Strangely, the allowable method of payment for your Amazon Prime membership is only credit card. Amazon specifically states that debit cards—even those with Visa or Mastercard logos—are not to be used for purchasing your automatically-renewing Prime membership. Presumably this is to keep the purchase from being rejected by the member’s bank, but it’s still kind of odd.

4. Prime Renewal. As I mentioned above, Amazon Prime automatically renews each year. That said, if for some reason it does not automatically renew, you can renew your membership within 30 days of its cancellation and the program will renew retroactively. In other words, the renewal date will be as if it had automatically renewed. What is not addressed is whether that retroactive renewal will provide you a rebate on shipping charges you paid between the time that the membership expired and it was renewed.

5. Refunds of Membership Fee. If you purchase Prime and cancel it before using any of its benefits, you will be refunded the full price of the membership. Excellent. But if you have used the free shipping or accessed any instant videos, you are not entitled to a refund. In addition, if Amazon makes changes to certain benefits after you have used them, or terminates your Prime membership, you will be given a prorated refund.

And that’s about it for Amazon Prime. In all, their terms and conditions are very short and readable, and there isn’t much in there that is concerning. It is much more of a contract that is used to explain the program, rather than a contract that is used to screw the consumer, like some contracts we have seen here at Pro and Contracts.

Have you used Amazon Prime? What has your experience been? Have you ever had trouble getting a refund for your membership fee? Tell us what happened in the comments.

Given the incredible glut of foreclosed homes on the market in recent years, I thought it would be interesting to look at a purchase agreement for purchasing a foreclosed home from Fannie Mae, with an emphasis on how it differs from a traditional home purchase agreement. I have already highlighted the relevant sections of the purchase agreement (which you can download here) so you don’t need to comb through the entire 11-page document yourself.

So here are some points of interest in what is likely a pretty ubiquitous purchase agreement at this point in time.

1. Inspections. Either party may have an inspection done on the property, but the seller’s (i.e., Fannie Mae’s) inspection cannot be used as a basis for canceling the agreement. If you see items on the seller’s inspection that give you pause and may cause you to want to rescind the agreement, you need to get your own inspection done. Then you can cancel the purchase agreement if sufficient defects exist.

2. Timing of Cancelation of Agreement. If the inspection reveals problems such that you would be unwilling to purchase the house, you must inform Fannie Mae within five (5) days of receiving the inspection report. If this does not occur, Fannie Mae will assume you accept the house in its current condition and you cannot cancel the purchase agreement on those grounds.

3. No Government Inspections. Unless it’s required by law, the prospective purchaser of the house cannot cause any government inspection of the property to occur. This includes building inspectors, zoning inspectors, or other government employees. This strikes me as a little odd, because it makes it sound like Fannie Mae knows it will need to make repairs to bring something up to code if the government gets involved, and it’s not interested in ensuring its properties are of that quality. Regardless, if this provision is breached by the purchaser, it’s possible s/he could be liable to Fannie Mae for any necessary repairs resulting from the government inspection.

4. Condition of Property. Since this is a foreclosure that is being purchased, the expectations are a little different, and the understanding is that the purchaser is buying the house “as-is,” kind of like buying something from the Scratch ‘n’ Dent section. It doesn’t matter if you know about any defects; even unknown defects are covered by this provision, and signing the purchase agreement means you agree with this restriction. This includes hazards such as mold.

5. Building Code Violations. Get this: If the house has building code violations and there is an ongoing enforcement proceeding to order Fannie Mae to correct the violations, then the purchaser had better take that opportunity to cancel the purchase. Otherwise, the purchaser is required by the purchase agreement to: (a) accept the property including the code violations, (b) become responsible for complying with the code and orders (i.e., fixing the violations himself), and (c) fix the violations as soon as possible after the closing of the sale. So you’re allowed to cancel the purchase if there are building code violations, but if you don’t, you are responsible for all the work and costs associated with bringing the house up to code.

6. No Quick Flipping. A specific paragraph has been added to prevent the purchaser from flipping the house for a profit of at least $23,000 within three months of its purchase. I don’t really know why this would matter to Fannie Mae; my understanding is that the banks just want to get these properties off their hands. But I could see where they would not want to be essentially competing in the same marketplace with the new owner. Just something to keep in mind.

7. No Other Representations. Finally—just to be clear—the purchase of the property is to be based solely on the purchaser’s own inspections and investigations, and not on anything represented by the seller. So anything that the seller orally promised during the walkthrough is unenforceable. Only the statements in the purchase agreement are enforceable, and almost none of them guarantee or warranty anything about the condition of the house.

And that about does it for the foreclosed home purchase agreement analysis. Of course, I skipped most of the normal language for a purchase agreement, and may come back to that in the future.

Please tell us about any experiences you have had with purchasing or inspecting foreclosed houses. Have you ever run into trouble because of provisions like these in a purchase agreement? The public is dying to know.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/respres/)

Typically I use Fine Print Friday to examine the fine print on a consumer contract for goods or services, like Verizon Wireless, Best Buy’s Return Policy, Comcast cable, and more. And lately I have been using this space to look at the language in arbitration clauses and the American Arbitration Association’s arbitration rules (which I will get back to next week). But this week I wanted to address the problems a person can run into when there is a lack of fine print.

Here is a contract for a concrete specialist to take out and replace an existing patio and sidewalk, and we’re going to look at what the lack of fine print means for it. (Note: This contract belongs to a contractor who lost the suit of which it was a part.)

First, I’m going to point out the positives, because the contract isn’t entirely devoid of usefulness. Then I will look at what the contract is missing and how that is potentially problematic. Essentially, I am going to look at it as though I was using the Contract Review Checklist, which Members can download free.

Where the Contract Succeeds

The contract isn’t just a wast of space; it actually outlines the basics of the agreement pretty well. It lists the parties (the contractor and the client), the work to be done, when the work is supposed to be completed, a payment amount and payment schedule, and it is executed with signatures by each of the parties. These really are the essentials of a contract, so from that standpoint it’s doing pretty well. Just by glancing at it you can tell that the project is to tear out and replace an existing patio and sidewalk for a total price of $5,500. One-third of the payment is paid up front, another third after the tear-out is complete, and the remainder at the completion of the job. We can see approximately how much concrete will be needed and the type of concrete that will be used. In all, it seems like a pretty well-stated summary of the job, right?

Right.

Where the Contract Fails

Here’s the problem with the contract: it’s only a summary of the job. It doesn’t really address anything else that might happen during the course of the job. Anyone who has been involved in any sort of big project knows that complications and unexpected events occur, but there is nothing in the concrete contract addressing unexpected events (what I call “contingencies”). For instance, on the job for which this contract was written, the contractor expected the concrete for the existing patio to be 4 inches thick, but when he started tearing it out, it was 8 inches thick. That doubled the amount of concrete he needed to tear out and haul away. Can you point to the place on the contract where it addresses that situation? You’ll notice that nowhere on the contract does it note how thick the existing concrete is, or that tearing out more concrete will cost more. So when the contractor wanted to charge an extra $1,000 for the tear-out, the homeowner was not happy…and wouldn’t pay it.

After the contractor tore out the patio (being twice as much concrete as he expected), he asked for the second chunk of the payment. Unfortunately, he listed the second third of the payment as being due when the tear out was complete, and he had not yet torn out the small sidewalk. According to the contract, the homeowner was correct in withholding the second third of the payment until the sidewalk was torn out…even though the contractor had already torn out twice what he had expected.

These are great examples of contingencies with which complex projects (like those in the construction industry) are rife. Of course, a person is never going to be able to predict every unexpected event that might occur—that’s why it is unexpected! But being prepared for contingencies and addressing change orders in the main contract are pretty important, and this contract had none of those things.

Why You Should Fix Your Contract

So although “Contingencies” is only one of nine criteria on the Contract Review Checklist, the effect of not planning for contingencies can be enormous, and can result in quite negative effects for both parties. In the lawsuit over the concrete project, no one really won. The contractor never got all the money he thought he earned, and the homeowner had to pay someone else more money to completely redo the job. And both parties had to deal with the time, stress, and cost of litigation, which are reason enough to ensure you have the right contract up front.

So if you have a contract you’re not sure about and you live in Minnesota, contact me to see if you need it revised. For contractors I have a special package for a consultation, review, and revision—and it’s affordable. Crazy!

Tell us about your contract experiences in the comments. Was the contract adequate? Did it make sense? Did you have any problems with it? Let us know.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/untitlism/)

Continuing last week’s Fine Print Friday post on the first two sections of the American Arbitration Association’s (AAA) Commercial Rules (PDF here), this week I will examine the section entitled Commercial Arbitration Rules. As usual, I will look through the rules for provisions and clauses that are of particular interest to consumers, unique, or just downright odd. And since there are 54 Commercial Rules, I’m just going to get down to it.

UPDATE: Since there was so much of note in the first 20 Commercial Arbitration rules, I have limited this post to those rules. Future posts will address the rest of the rules.

1. Automatic Adoption of Rules. If you sign a contract that provides for dispute resolution by the AAA according to its commercial rules, then you have already agreed to be bound by these Commercial Rules as well. Technically it’s allowable to reference outside documents in a contract and have them be binding—it’s just that in this case those rules aren’t presented when signing the main contract, and that’s a little sketchy. At least after reading these posts you’ll have some idea of that to which you’re agreeing.

2. Supplementary Procedures for Commercial-Related Disputes. There are also supplementary rules that are referred to in an asterisk. But they only apply in a few situations, namely:

[A]greements between individual consumers and businesses where the business has a standardized, systematic application of arbitration clauses with customers and where the terms and conditions of the purchase of standardized, consumable goods or services are nonnegotiable or primarily non-negotiable in most or all of its terms, conditions, features, or choices.

Or in other words, any adhesion contract you will likely ever sign for any personal service or product. So when we get to the Supplementary Procedures in a future post, remember that they will likely apply to you in any commercial arbitration situation.

3. Time Limits on Counterclaims. Arbitration under these rules is begun when one party files notice with both the AAA and the other party. (This could be either the consumer or the company, depending on who is making the claim—in other words, whoever would be doing the suing.) If the other party wants to bring a counterclaim (i.e., “You want money from us? Well, we want money from you too.”), the counterclaim must be asserted in an Answering Statement. According to the rules, the answering statement must be filed with the AAA, in duplicate (that means 2 copies), within fifteen (15) days of the AAA sending the arbitration notice to the parties. That doesn’t give you much time to bring a counterclaim, so if you’ve been notified there is an arbitration pending, get on the ball and submit your Answering Statement quickly! (There is also a fee that needs to be submitted, so make sure that is included with your Answering Statement.) See Commercial Arbitration Rule R-4(b) for more information on filing arbitration counterclaims.

4. Separability of Arbitration Clauses. The arbitrator has the sole discretion on whether a contract is valid or enforceable. But the arbitration clause of contracts is deemed to be entirely separate from the rest of the contract under these rules. So even if the arbitrator deems part or all of the contract at issue as being invalid or unenforceable, that judgment does not affect the arbitration clause. In other words, arbitration is going to happen regardless of the legal merit of the rest of the contract. I think this rule could be challenged in a court, but I don’t know if anyone has ever sued the AAA on its rules in an arbitration situation.

5. Arbitration Location. The parties have the ability to agree on the place where the arbitration will take place. Many commercial arbitration clauses already specify where the arbitration will be held, but on the off-chance they do not, the parties have an opportunity to agree on a location. If, on the other hand, one party requests a specific location independent of the other party and the other party does not respond to the request within 15 days, that request will be granted. You need to keep on top of these things!

6. Disqualification of Arbitrator. Normally you would think that anything that might make an arbitrator impartial in a dispute would be enough for the arbitrator to be disqualified and replaced. Strangely, though, that’s not the case. According to rule R-17, an arbitrator will only be subject to disqualification if s/he (a) is partial or lacks independence, and (b) is unable or refuses to perform the duties with diligence and in good faith, and (c) there are grounds for the arbitrator’s disqualification provided by law. Please notice the “and”s in there. It’s possible, then, that an arbitrator on a matter could have arbitrated matters in favor of the big company with whom you are arguing, but because it’s not against the law for him/her to arbitrate the matter, s/he can still do so. Rats!

And that will do it for the first 20 rules of the American Arbitration Association’s Commercial Arbitration Rules. Hopefully I’ll be able to polish them off next week, and we can get back into the dirt in corporate contracts. Regardless of how boring this stuff is, though, it’s pretty important to anyone who might find him- or herself in conflict with a company with an arbitration clause in its contract.

So keep coming back, and keep reading up on everything in Arbitration Insanity. And let me know in the comments if you have any questions or if anything I said in this post was unclear.

Thanks for reading.

Facebook has changed its look…again. And Facebook has changed its interface…again. And Facebook has changed its privacy policy…again. So to keep up with the Joneses, Pro and Contracts is checking out Facebook’s revised privacy policy to see what is new, what is different, and whether there is newly-public information on your Facebook page.

When Pro and Contracts first examined the Facebook Privacy Policy for Fine Print Friday, we discovered that any content you put on your page can be used by Facebook, applications like Farmville are not bound by Facebook’s terms, and everything posted on your page is set as viewable by everyone by default. So what has changed with the new look, new interface, and new Facebook privacy policy?

1. Information Others Share about You. It’s pretty understandable that anything you put on your own Facebook page is information that will be shared with Facebook. But did you know that when other people tag you in a photo or add you to a group, more information about you is shared with Facebook? Did you also know that all sorts of your information is shared via Facebook applications you use? As a general rule of thumb, if you don’t want information on Facebook, don’t share it with anyone else either.

2. Interactive Information Shared with Facebook. In addition to information you and others share about you, Facebook also collects information about you based on any number of actions taken when using Facebook, including: sending someone a message or clicking on an ad; the time, date, and location of photos and videos you post; information about the device you use to access Facebook, including its IP address, type of browser, and browser history (of other pages you visit); and, how you responded to advertising or surveys on Facebook.

3. Scrubbed Data for Advertising Partners. For any data that Facebook chooses to share with advertising partners, they will remove your personally-identifying information. This likely just means your name, and maybe your address and phone number if those are available on Facebook. I expect that everything else—location, computer browsing history, preferences, age, etc.—is fair game and can be provided (i.e., sold) to Facebook’s advertising partners.

4. Deactivating or Deleting an Account. You can deactivate your Facebook account, which keeps it from being viewed, but does not delete any of the information. Deactivating allows you to reactivate your profile in the future. You can also delete your Facebook account entirely, which dumps all the information, pictures, videos, etc. Account deletion takes about a month, with logged information taking up to 90 days to purge from the system. If you delete an account, you cannot retrieve it, reactivate it, or get any of that information back.

5. Controlling Your Audience. Facebook allows you to control who sees what on your own profile, but not anything that you post on someone else’s profile. Status updates, photos, or check-ins can each be set to be viewable by anyone (meaning anyone in the world who looks), your friends only, or a specifically customized list of people. If you don’t specify an audience for each action, Facebook will use the last-used audience choice. So if you want to keep outsiders or saucy interlopers from checking out your photos, make sure you have your audience set accordingly.

6. Other People’s Audiences. Unlike the control you have over your own content on your Facebook profile, as soon as you write on someone else’s wall, comment on another person’s photo, or tag someone in a photo, that other person’s audience selection determines who can view it. So if you have a skeezy photo you think is hilarious, but don’t want anyone except a few friends to see, don’t tag those friends, or all their friends will be able to see it as well.

7. Instant Personalization. Some Facebook partners (such as Bing or Rotten Tomatoes) have instant access to some of your personal information (including your User ID, your friend list, and your public information) in order to customize your experience on their Facebook pages. The first time you visit one of these pages you will have the opportunity to disallow their access to your personal information. If you provide access, it will stay in their system until you specifically turn off “instant personalization,” in which case those pages are contractually obligated to remove your information that is in their systems. Of course, that becomes the partner’s responsibility rather than Facebook’s, and you will have to monitor that page’s compliance with your request on your own.

Most of the rest of Facebook’s Data Usage Policies are the same as when Pro and Contracts reviewed them the first time. There is nothing in this update that strikes me as particularly surprising, but many of Facebook’s data policies require the user to specifically control his or her information, which is important to be aware of if you care about who sees your information, posts, photos, tags, and anything else you share on your Facebook profile.

Have you had trouble with Facebook’s data sharing policies? Have you ever experienced any negative consequences from unexpected people having access to your Facebook information? Let us know in the comments.

And, as always, thanks for reading.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoneysteiner/)

After seeing a recent spot on The Daily Show about discrimination against bodybuilders at Planet Fitness, I thought it would be interesting to comb through Planet Fitness’s policies (click here to download a PDF of the Planet Fitness policies/”About Us” page) to see what precisely is prohibited or enforced at Planet Fitness locations (of which there are over 500 throughout the United States).

Unfortunately I was unable to find an actual list of policies relating to keeping “lunks” out of their gyms, so I don’t know if there is a definition of a lunk (or meat head) under which Planet Fitness is operating, or if it’s a I-know-it-when-I-see-it policy. [UPDATE: "Lunk" is defined on Planet Fitness's Lunk Alarm as "one who grunts, drops weights, or judges." That's pretty clear. And they provide some more language regarding lunks on the Planet Fitness Facebook page.] Either way, it’s a pretty funny concept, and thought it would make a nice, lighter Fine Print Friday entry. As part of Planet Fitness’s Judgement Free Zone (this video is an advertisement for Planet Fitness), the following rules are enforced:

1. No Grunting. At Planet Fitness, grunting is expressly prohibited. Excessive grunting can lead to setting off the Lunk Alarm, and even having the grunter thrown out of the gym.

2. No Weight or Dumbbell Dropping. Another Lunk Alarm offense, any dropping of weights that causes excessive noise may set off the Lunk Alarm (which I assume is just triggered by short, loud noises) and/or find a person kicked out of Planet Fitness. In the case of the man whose plight was highlighted on The Daily Show, it seems that grunting and weight dropping can actually lead to permanent expulsion from Planet Fitness. And apparently being thrown out of a Planet Fitness can drive lunks crazy! (The video quality isn’t great, but the Hulk-like behavior is worth watching.)

3. No Deadlifting. Deadlifting strengthens a number of muscles in a person’s legs, arms (grip strength), and back, and is considered by some to be the purest form of weightlifting due to its lifting of weight from the ground and not lowering it again—i.e., dropping the barbell once it has been lifted. Presumably it is the dropping of the barbell and the consequent noise that is the problem, not the actual act of deadlifting.

4. No Jeans, and No Headwear other than Baseball Caps. I understand that Planet Fitness may want to encourage a uniform feel in their gyms to promote the elimination of judgment, but putting together dress codes seems like a bit much. If I want to be uncomfortable by working out by wearing jeans, shouldn’t I be allowed to?

5. Don’t Be Smelly. Taken right from a page of rules for Planet Fitness that I finally found, this rule specifies that body odor or cologne are not a part of the Planet Fitness experience, and if you do find yourself getting stinky while working out, you are supposed to change your clothes before continuing your workout.

Given the lack of actual published rules, it’s hard to do much more analysis that this, but it should give you a picture of how Planet Fitness is different from traditional gyms. Are you a member of Planet Fitness, or have you visited one? Please tell us about your experience with these rules.

If you need to contact Planet Fitness for any reason, you may email them at info@planetfitness.com, or send mail to Planet Fitness, 26 Fox Run Rd., Newington, NH 03801.