DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
  1. DZone
  2. Data Engineering
  3. Databases
  4. Making API Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Easy to Read and Understand

Making API Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Easy to Read and Understand

Typically, developers aren't malicious; they are just usually ignorant of the best practices that often exist in the platforms legalese we agree to, but seldom ever read.

Kin Lane user avatar by
Kin Lane
·
Nov. 08, 16 · Opinion
Like (5)
Save
Tweet
Share
2.68K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

The NextWeb had a great story saying that Google has redesigned its developer policies with clearer language and visual examples. Normally, I don't just parrot what the tech blogosphere publishes, but it's an important enough API message that I think it warrants repeating. In my experience, API providers just emulate what they hear in the space and stories like this need amplification.

What Google did isn't rocket surgery. They just simplified the legalese around what they expect of developers. What better way to actually help ensure these best practices around the platform actual happen than by actually providing simple titles, summary description, images, and other relevant links on a developer policy page? In most scenarios, developers aren't malicious; they are just usually ignorant of the best practices that often exist in the platforms legalese we agree to, but seldom ever read.

My friend Tyler Singletary stated:

The organization here for policy is fun, mostly clear, and interactive. A company the size of Google distilling the deep TOS policy into such a user and developer friendly front end is pretty astounding.

I agree. Simple like this, when you operate at Google scale can be pretty hard, and is something I'd love to see standardized across Google offerings. 

I will be adding any of the elements from the simplified Google Play developer policy that are missing in my API terms of service, privacy, licensing, and branding research. I will also add the concept of having visuals for each area, or building block, and add the common theme of "keep it simple." This will help API providers remember that they actually want developers reading and understanding this stuff, not having it buried in the legalese that nobody will give a sh*t about.

API

Published at DZone with permission of Kin Lane, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • How to Use MQTT in Java
  • OpenID Connect Flows
  • Using the PostgreSQL Pager With MariaDB Xpand
  • Debugging Threads and Asynchronous Code

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: