Site with no TOS - legalities and questions

[Bailey]

I know of a site that is active and registering members.
It emails out postings from folks to hundreds of other folks.

This site has no TOS in place.

Questions:

1) If there is no TOS, does this mean that the emails being generated through the system have no protection in terms of someone selling those names & emails to a company?

2) What if a TOS is generated later.... can the company then state you are automatically bound by that TOS, or would they have to resign everyone up, have them agree to the TOS through some email or something?

3) If they post a TOS later, and they do not resign everyone, could there be grounds for a lawsuit?

Thanks for any help and insights you can provide.

[olive]

That info is still theirs and cannot be used by you under normal circumstances even without TOS.

But if you can plainly see all to whom they email for some reason, that info is likely no longer confidential and proprietary. You can communicate with them too.

The problem is that we the members have requested a TOS in order to protect our emails, but the company has refused to generate a TOS.

Yes, any posting put up at the site is forwarded to our individual email servers at home, so we see everyone's information.

Without a TOS, as I understand it, technically I could use those email however I wanted to.

I am not planning to, but the fear amongst the members is that someone else will and that there will be no recourse.

And, if someone is already a member and has not agreed to a TOS, then what we need to know is that if the company finally does publish a TOS, will it automatically retroactively affect all members that are already on the site? OR will the company need to have all members go back and sign a TOS agreement?


I totally get that the company has the right to that info. That I do not dispute, but what protection do we the members have or not have when there is no TOS in place. We all fear massive spam cause the way we understand it, at this point someone could easily be gathering our info and selling it to the highest bidder.

Please send any and all info you can. Thanks.

[Bailey]

Sorry, forgot to sign in before clarifying.
Still need help understanding if we are protected or not.
Thanks everyone for any help you can offer.