Old Bones
Senior Member
- Messages
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When signing/sharing, what personal details are published/withheld.
@Barry53 I filled in the petition yesterday. However, when I reached the bottom of the screen and saw a link to the Terms of Service, I decided to defer submitting until I knew exactly what I was agreeing to.
Here are a couple of links:
https://www.change.org/policies/terms-of-service
https://www.change.org/policies/privacy
I am, perhaps, more strict than most in protecting the privacy of my online activities. For me, there were enough "red flags" to discourage me from using the Change.org platform. Here are a few statements from their documentation:
- When you download and use our existing or future mobile applications, we’ll collect your unique device ID and all your account and activity information will be tied to that unique device ID.
- We may obtain information about you from public records, publicly available databases, and third-party providers as described above.
- We may obtain certain information through your social media accounts . . .
- Third-party analytics providers: We use third-party analytics services like Google Analytics provided by Google Inc. (“Google”) and the Mixpanel service provided by Mixpanel, Inc. (“Mixpanel”). These analytics services use cookies and similar technologies to analyze how people use our services and compile statistical reports. Such services may also collect information about Platform visitors’ use of other websites.
- We also share your first and last name and city with the person who initiated a petition you have signed, even if you select the option not to display your signature publicly. If you do not wish to have such information shared with the person who initiated the petition, please do not sign the petition.
- We may identify you to the recipients of messages you may choose to send through our platform.
- We may, in certain circumstances, share your name and general geographic location with the intended decision maker who is the recipient of the petition. If you do not wish to have this information shared with the petition recipient, you should not sign the petition.
The content you submit on the platform is not confidential: Any content you submit or post on Change.org is likely to be publicly available, including all petitions you create and your comments to any petitions you signed (on the Change.org site, in apps and in social media pages). If you are concerned about other Change.org community members, or people you don’t know, seeing a particular message or other content of yours, please do not post it.
By submitting and posting content, you do not lose any ownership rights you may have in your content. However, you authorize us to share this content with anyone, distribute it on any platform and in any media, and to make modifications or edits to it as we see fit.
You also authorize us to allow others to do the same with your content. In legal language, by submitting or posting content on or through the Change.org platform, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute your content in any and all media or distribution methods (existing now or later developed). This includes making your content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Change.org.
My interpretation is that the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies favour Change.org and their many affiliates, and not the users/signers. For me, no matter how good the cause, signing petitions like this one is not worth the privacy risk. I encourage those with concerns to scan the above links and make an informed decision for themselves.