Help with privacy policy and terms of service
Hey fellow indie hackers,
When you are testing ideas, how do you approach creating privacy policies and terms of service?
Do you use any off-the-shelf services or do you consult with legal experts? The latter seems too expensive for indie hackers so would love to hear some opinions and maybe even get some help :).
Thank you!
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Hi @Lajt —
Whenever it comes to creating policies, I have mixed feelings.
I'd like to share my latest experiences:
For terms & conditions:
The expert just had about an hour to see if everything fits the law, which was more efficient and way less expensive than explaining to the person what we wanted and letting the expert write it. Especially when it comes to a very tailor-made service, it makes sense to take that route rather than using a generator.
Okay, let's jump to the generated ones:
For privacy policies:
This service was very straightforward and very customized. I had to click through some options, and then it created the legal documents.
Recently, I heard about using "AI" for policies, but I haven't gone into that. It might be something to do some quick research :)
Conclusion
In the end, I think if you want to have it properly written, getting it together cheaply (by writing it yourself or with a service) and then signing off the documents by an expert is a good way to go.
Can't wait to hear other opinions on that.
Hey Ottinzky, thanks for the elaborate answer!
Def seems like the route I will explore.
Out of curiosity, why did you take 2 different approaches for privacy policy and terms of service? It might be super obvious but not to me atm :D
Thanks!
Hi @Lajt, it's my pleasure to share this with you!
I've used two different approaches for two separate projects. In general, I find it easier to use a generator for the privacy policy compared to the terms and conditions. This is because the privacy policy is typically based on the same generic legal language.
On the other hand, terms and conditions can be highly customized. Let me give you an example: I wrote the terms and conditions for an art atelier where they are allowed to take pictures of people's physical artworks and own the rights to print and sell copies of them. We included this clause because, at some point in the future, the art atelier plans to publish a book featuring hundreds of attendees' artworks. Instead of individually asking each person for permission, we added it to the terms and conditions that people accept before they start painting.
Do you see what I mean by this example? :)
It would be hard for a generator to create such a clause out of nothing, and the same for a legal expert. It needs your strategic brainpower first.