Email / Web Service Agreements

W5HTW writes...


It was brought to my attention yesterday that there are some interesting clauses in the service agreement with Juno Email/Web Service, a service many hams use, as their basic email is free. This notice was submitted on a couple of 20 meter nets in the past few days, as a caution to hams using Juno, to carefully read the service agreement.


In reading the agreement myself, I found some curious things, and felt it wise to pass this along to fellow hams who may not have taken the time to read it thoroughly. For me, it is enough to suggest I resign from the Juno service and remove it from my computer. Read it. You could be in for a surprise!






Juno requires, paraphrased here, that you leave your computer on continuously, so they may access it at any time they desire, and that you supply a dial-up number for such access. They state they may download "computational software" which has nothing to do with the service, during your access and have it run in the background on your computer. Then it will be uploaded upon your next access to their service. I do not feel comfortable with granting blanket access to any service to enter my computer at will, perform behind-the-scenes operations without informing me, and hold me responsible for refusing to allow them to do so.






They do not describe what this "computational software" is, or what it may be doing. It appears to be they reserve the right to use your computer anytime they so desire, to run some form of business computations on your machine. You would not be aware of when this was happening, when it was downloaded or uploaded. If you failed to keep your computer available for them, and they could not access it within a reasonable amount of time to upload the work your machine has done for them, they can cancel your service.






At least one result of complying with this agreement could be to keep you from using any other service, for in doing so, you would, by sheer nature of the line being busy, block them from access. Whether Juno is really doing this, or is simply reserving the right to do it, is uncertain.






Another aspect of the service agreement for those who pay for the web service with Juno is, if you fail to provide "anytime access" by Juno to your computer, they can cancel your service. But they can continue to charge you for it on your credit card unless you cancel the agreement by calling their 1-888 phone number!






Very important to note: Even if you delete the Juno accounts from both your computer and theirs, as shown in the account setup, you have not legally "cancelled the service!" They can continue to bill you for it! To cancel you MUST call the 1-888 customer service phone number listed in the agreement.






This may be standard practice on service agreements. I have not read many. It is, though, apparently new with Juno in their Release 5.0. I would suggest a review of any web access, whether full service or email only. Note that, if you check email on Juno, there is a statement to the effect that by checking email, (or entering the web) you have agreed in full to the service agreement, whether you have read it or not.






To read the agreement, open Juno email, but do not go to check email. Instead, select "HELP" and then "SERVICE AGREEMENT." I chose to highlight it all, copy, and paste into a word processor for printing it out.






73,
Ed Brooks, W5HTW