Cloud server provider Vultr has rapidly revised its terms-of-service after netizens raised the alarm over broad clauses that demanded the “perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free” rights to customer “content.”
The red tape was updated in January, as captured by the Internet Archive, and this month users were asked to agree to the changes by a pop-up that appeared when using their web-based Vultr control panel.
That prompted folks to look through the terms, and there they found clauses granting the US outfit a “worldwide license … to use, reproduce, process, adapt … modify, prepare derivative works, publish, transmit, and distribute” user content.
It turned out these demands have been in place since before the January update; customers have only just noticed them now. Given Vultr hosts servers and storage in the cloud for its subscribers, some feared the biz was giving itself way too much ownership over their stuff, all in this age of AI training data being put up for sale by platforms.
We do not use user data. We never have, and we never will
In response to online outcry, largely stemming from Reddit, Vultr in the past few hours rewrote its ToS to delete those asserted content rights.
CEO J.J. Kardwell told The Register earlier today it’s a case of standard legal boilerplate being taken out of context. The clauses were supposed to apply to customer forum posts, rather than private server content, and while, yes, the terms make more sense with that in mind, one might argue the legalese was overly broad in any case.
“We do not use user data,” Kardwell stressed to us. “We never have, and we never will. We take privacy and security very seriously. It’s at the core of what we do globally.”
The controversial wording appeared under section 12 of the ToS, which up until now read like this:
User content was defined as “the information, text, opinions, messages, comments, audio visual works, motion pictures, photographs, animation, videos, graphics, sounds, music, software, apps, and any other content or material that you or your end users submit, upload, post, host, store, or otherwise make available” using Vultr’s resources.
According to Kardwell, the content clauses are entirely separate to user data deployed in its cloud, and are more aimed at one’s use of the Vultr website, emphasizing the last line of the relevant fine print: “… for purposes of providing the services to you.”
He also pointed out that the wording has been that way for some time, and added the prompt asking users to agree to an updated ToS was actually spurred by unrelated Microsoft licensing changes.
In light of the controversy, Vultr vowed to remove the above section to “simplify and further clarify” its ToS, and has indeed done so. In a separate statement, the biz told The Register the removal will be followed by a full review and update to its terms of service.
“It’s clearly causing confusion for some portion of users. We recognize that the average user doesn’t have a law degree,” Kardwell said.
“We’re very focused on being responsive to the community and the concerns people have and we believe the strongest thing we can do to demonstrate that there is no bad intent here is to remove it.” ®
