Terms of Service of DeviantART

NET303 Policy Primer

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In our increasingly interconnected world…

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the rules on how we share information have never been so important.

There are many social media platforms that we use to share information and content.

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In managing that information and content, website administrators set out certain rules and regulations otherwise known as “Terms of Service”.

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The Terms of Service outline the rights and obligations of both users and the sites owner, ranging from copyright protection to the use of personal information.

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Deviantart.com is a social networking site that provides a space for users to share whatever type of artwork they choose.

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DeviantART “receives over 160,000 daily uploads of original artworks ranging from traditional media, such as painting and sculpture, to digital art, pixel art, films and anime”. (Deviantart: About, 2013)

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The sites administrators stipulate certain rights concerning this uploaded content.

“Content provided to you by others, ..... (is) are protected by copyright and should not be uploaded, downloaded, or otherwise copied, distributed or displayed without the consent of the copyright owner or as otherwise permitted by law.” (Deviantart: About TOS, 2013)

DeviantART clearly states that copyright law applies to all submitted materials…

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The “artist at all times retains all right, title and interest in and to the artist materials.... subject to the non-exclusive rights in the licenses granted to deviantART under this agreement”. (Deviantart: Submissions Policy, 2013)

“DeviantART does not claim ownership rights in your content” (Deviantart: Submissions Policy, 2013)

The “non-exclusive rights” declare that DeviantART retains the right to use “artists materials in the promotion, advertising or marketing of DeviantART Sites”. (Deviantart: Submissions Policy, 2013)

This enables DeviantART to use submissions without the need for the owners consent or the need to provide compensation to the copyright holder for the use of submitted material.

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“You grant to DeviantART a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, distribute, re-format, store, prepare derivative works based on, and publicly display and perform your content.” (Deviantart: About TOS, 2013)

“When you upload content, you allow third parties to copy, distribute and display your content.” (Deviantart: About TOS, 2013)

The administrators also warn users of the possible consequences associated with uploading content to the site.

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Therefore members are ultimately responsible for the enforcement of copyright and any associated legal costs. (Deviantart: About TOS, 2013)

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DeviantART bears no responsibility for the unauthorised use of submitted material and is not obligated to assist you if a third party uses your work without consent.

DeviantART administrators also stipulate what users can upload in terms of acceptable community standards.

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“You agree not to use this service to upload, post, or otherwise transmit any material that is obscene, offensive, blasphemous, pornographic, unlawful, threatening, menacing, abusive, harmful, an invasion of privacy or publicity rights, defamatory, libelous, vulgar, illegal or otherwise objectionable.” (Deviantart: About TOS, 2013)

DeviantART complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act(COPPA) by preventing any child under the age of 13 from acquiring an account. (Deviantart: Help & FAQ, 2013)

“This restriction stands even when parental permission is given.” (Deviantart: Help & FAQ, 2013)

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While you must be a minimum age of 13 years old to have an account, deviantART also enforces an age restriction of 18 years for access to “mature content”.

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However, classifying submissions as “mature content” is left primarily to the user, with the administration acting only as a secondary moderator.

“If you submit a work which should be tagged as

mature content but neglect to tag it as such

the administration reserves the right to mark the work appropriately.”

(Deviantart: Help & FAQ, 2013)

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In regards to Privacy, DeviantART only provides personally identifiable information to 3rd parties where express permission is given by the user, or if relates specifically to internal administrative operations.

“When we supply personally identifiable information to these third parties, we require them to use it only for the function they are helping us with.”(Deviantart: Privacy, 2013)

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User activity such as visited pages and clicked advertisements are collected by DeviantART to “improve the offerings and performance” of the site as well as informing advertisers of general user habits. (Deviantart: Privacy, 2013)

However users remain anonymous and no personally identifiable information is attached to the collected data that is shared. (Deviantart: Privacy, 2013)

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So apart from unforseen security breaches, your personal information will not be made available to others without your permission.

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When submitting to DeviantART, the default copyright setting limits how others can use your work.

However you can also choose to use various types of Creative Commons licences. (Deviantart: Privacy, 2013)

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Allowing you to share your work the way you want, with who you want.

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DeviantArt also allows users to sell their works commercially.

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But you must be over 18 years old to do so. (Deviantart: About TOS, 2013)

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As is the case with most online services and platforms, the administrators of DeviantART reserve the right to alter the Terms of Service at any time in the future. (Deviantart: About TOS, 2013)

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So it is in your interests to check the TOS and any correspondence from DeviantART on a regular basis to ensure you know your rights.

REFERENCES

Deviantart: About. (2013) About DeviantART. Retrieved fromhttp://about.deviantart.com/

Deviantart: About TOS. (2013) Deviantart About: Terms of Service. Retrieved from http://about.deviantart.com/policy/service/#skins Deviantart: Help & FAQ. (2013) How does deviantART comply with COPPA. Retrieved from http://help.deviantart.com/696/ Deviantart: Help & FAQ. (2013) What is Mature Content? Retrieved from http://help.deviantart.com/220/ Deviantart: Privacy. (2013) Deviantart: Privacy Policy. Retrieved from http://about.deviantart.com/policy/privacy/

Deviantart: Submissions. (2013) Deviantart: Submissions Policy. Retrieved fromhttp://about.deviantart.com/policy/submission/

IMAGES

Buy and Sell - http://www.webuybusinesses.com.au/images/buy_sell_business.jpg

Change - http://www.cpsu.org.au/multiattachments/31981/Image/BARGAINING%20Sign%20change%20ahead.jpg

Child Computer - http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01394/childComputer_1394080c.jpg

Images Cont.Copyright Logo - http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/Copywriting-useful-tips-and-resources-2.jpg

Creative Commons - http://www.grafiscopio.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/07/creative_commons_cc1.jpg DeviantART Logo - http://chroniclesofnadya.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/deviantart.png

Facebook Logo - http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oHR_xpkO76s/T8Pt3kz8p2I/AAAAAAAABzk/gnuYdWIZgQA/s1600/3D_Facebook_Logo_Cube_HD_Wallpaper-Vvallpaper.Net.jpg

Flickr Logo - http://www.croatia-in-the-eu.eu/sites/all/themes/croatia/images/flickr.png Hammer and Scales - http://www.thecitizen.org.au/sites/default/files/images/shutterstock_97357133.jpg

Interconnected World - http://hurstrobert.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/x-interconnected-world.jpg

Internet Pirate - http://delimiter.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/internetpirate.jpg

Is it Safe? - http://privacycouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Picture-Online-security-Hacking-Tips-300x232.jpg

Know Your Rights - http://www.visionaustralia.org/images/landing-pages/know-your-rights.jpg?sfvrsn=0

 

 

Images Cont.Licence Terms - http://ontheline.trincoll.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cc-licenses-terms.png

Over 18 Only - http://www.signsbypost.com/lg_images/OVER-18-s-ONLY-9165.jpg Personal Information - https://spideroak.com/blog/wp-uploads/Personal-Information3.jpg

Promote, Market, Advertise - http://www.maynardproducts.com.au/assets/images/PMA-Promotional-Products.jpg

Privacy - http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/privacy.jpg 

R18+ Restricted - http://imagery.playerattack.com/Australia-R18-Rating.png Standards - http://www.adcet.edu.au/Admin/UploadedFiles/Images/Photos/standards.jpg

Stop Sign - http://www.learnerrider.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/00_mature_content.png

Terms of Service - http://luminary.ws/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/terms.jpg Tumblr Logo - http://blog.marginmedia.com.au/Portals/92872/images/tumblr-logo-04-12-2012.png

YouTube Logo - http://www.artrix.co.uk/UserFiles/image/whatson/youtube.jpg