Is Rotten Tomatoes's Terms of Service safe?

Top concerning points

1. 1.

   You may still be tracked even after opting out from tracking

   blocker

   High

   Users can’t fully opt out of tracking technologies used for non essential purposes such as advertising, marketing or analytics. The user may be asked for consent for installing some tracking technologies on the device, and even if all are rejected the service will still track its visitors and ignore the choice.This case doesn’t apply to functional cookies that are necessary to provide the services.

2. 2.

   You waive your moral rights

   blocker

   High

   Moral rights are rights to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, as well as directors of films. "The moral rights include the right of attribution, the right to have a work published anonymously or pseudonymously, and the right to the integrity of the work. The preserving of the integrity of the work allows the author to object to alteration, distortion, or mutilation of the work that is "prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation". Anything else that may detract from the artist's relationship with the work even after it leaves the artist's possession or ownership may bring these moral rights into play. Moral rights are distinct from any economic rights tied to copyrights. Even if an artist has assigned his or her copyright rights to a work to a third party, he or she still maintains the moral rights to the work." -Wikipedia In general, any terms that use the exact words "moral rights" as rights that are waived will fall under this Case.

3. 3.

   This service holds onto content that you've deleted

   blocker

   High

   Content may remain in backup servers and be retained after deletion, and thus never be completely deleted. This case doesn't apply to contributions that can't be removed due to the nature of the service.

4. 4.

   Specific content can be deleted without reason and may be removed without prior notice

   blocker

   High

   This service can delete specific content. Usually they will claim they reserve the right to do it at their sole discretion, which is legalese for saying they won't give a specific reason. If the terms say they will not notify you, it shall be included in the quote but if it does not explicitly say they will give you a notice, it can be reasonably inferred that they can do it without telling you.

5. 5.

   Your data is collected even if you did not interact with the service directly

   blocker

   High

   Some services store data on you even if you did not provide that data yourself. For example, users might provide access to their address book, after which a service might also store the phone numbers of that person's contacts.

6. 6.

   Your personal data is used for automated decision-making, profiling or AI training

   blocker

   High

   Personal data or content you share with the service may be processed to make decisions by automated means without human involvement. This includes profiling, which is any form of automated processing of your information to analyse or predict things like your economic situation, health, personal preferences or interests; as well as Artificial Intelligence training.

7. 7.

   Sensitive data is collected and shared to target advertising

   blocker

   High

   Sensitive data refers to information requiring special protection, such as health data, political and religious beliefs, ethnic origins, sexual life and financial information. The service collects and shares this data with third parties for advertising or marketing.

8. 8.

   Instead of asking directly, this Service will assume your consent to changes of terms merely from your usage

   bad

   High

   The Service infers your acceptance from your continued usage, instead of prompting you to read the new Terms and asking for direct consent. This doesn’t apply to services that have no way to seek consent from users through their contact details or an account.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rotten Tomatoes's ToS;DR privacy grade?

ToS;DR rates Rotten Tomatoes as Grade E. Grades range from A (best) to E (worst). See the full breakdown on ToS;DR.

Is Rotten Tomatoes's Terms of Service safe?

ToS;DR's Grade E means the terms raise serious concerns. Read the blocker and bad points carefully before accepting.

What is a top concern in Rotten Tomatoes's terms?

You may still be tracked even after opting out from tracking — Users can’t fully opt out of tracking technologies used for non essential purposes such as advertising, marketing or analytics. The user may be asked for consent for installing some tracking technologies on the device, and even if all are rejected the service will still track its visitors and ignore the choice.This case doesn’t apply to functional cookies that are necessary to provide the services. (Source: ToS;DR approved point).

Where can I read Rotten Tomatoes's official terms?

ToS;DR tracks "Terms and Policies" at https://www.rottentomatoes.com/policies/terms-and-policies. Always prefer the official document over summaries.