Business Law Term Paper
Legal Analysis of Dating Site User Agreement
Chosen Site: eHarmony
BUSI 2601B
Dr. G. Levasseur
March 8th, 2015
Table of Contents
I Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1
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II Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………….….3
Overview and Objectives:…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….3
Methodology:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3
Business Relationship:………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….5
III Clausal Description and Explanation…………………………………………………………………………………….6
Document 1: Privacy Policy (3 pages)……………………………………………………………………..………….…….6
Document Two: Terms of Service (five pages)………………………………………………………….…………….….18
IV Application of Legal Principles…………………………………………………………………….……….…………….32
V Lessons Learned, Recommendations and Example Scenario…………………………………………..……...46
VI Legal Corrective Measures………………………………………………………………………………………..…….….49
V Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….55
I Executive Summary
The concept of online dating has exploded into mainstream culture since the emergence of the
Internet. Websites have allowed for the virtual facilitation of basic needs and have taken dating
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and relationships to a whole new level. These sites promise to make the “dating game” easy,
comfortable, and convenient for their users. Promises to match you with the perfect partner and
to increase the longevity of your personal relationships make online dating seem too good to be
true. But what happens when this utopia of personal interaction comes crashing down? In the
following pages, online dating and the risks, responsibilities, and limitations associated with such
services will be analysed and connected to the legal principles discussed in the Introduction to
Business Law course. To best exemplify the importance of business law in online dating sites,
the extremely popular site eHarmony, more specifically the Single’s Service in Canada, will be
analysed. The site’s user agreement consists of two main parts: the Terms of Service and the
Privacy policy which will both be discussed. The first section of the report will dissect each
individual clause from both documents and simplify them to explain what they mean and why
the company chose to include the provisions. This will create a thorough understanding of what
is included in the agreement. Next, the legal principles that have been discussed in the Business
Law course will be expressly linked to the user agreement in order to establish the connection
between contractual agreements and an individual’s responsibilities, risks and duties once the
contract is signed. In addition, various recommendations regarding the use of the site as well as
lessons learned from the completion of this paper will be offered in detail, with an example of a
scenario explaining the role of the contract when things go wrong. Finally, a list of corrective
measures that can be applied to improve the protection offered by the contract to the company
and to clarify limitations on the service will be outlined. Thus, this paper will serve as a tool to
better understand the contractual relationship between people and online services, as well as how
companies protect themselves from any risks that may arise as a result of such relationships.
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II Introduction
Overview and Objectives:
In order to achieve success in the world of business, a firm grasp of the fundamental principles of
the law is crucial, not only to conduct business in the present but also to forecast and prepare for
risks in the future. The purpose of this paper is to perform a clausal analysis of the content of a
user agreement from an online dating site, in order to understand the importance of contractual
relationships in a business setting, and to link the key legal principles to the contract. The goal is
to achieve a thorough understanding of the role that such contracts play in commerce and the
risks associated with entering into contractual relationships. The main objectives are to explain,
in detail, a breakdown of the user agreement of the chosen dating site and to find any legal issues
within the wording or aims of the agreement. Essentially, this means that the paper seeks to
identify and rectify any concerns that could lead to a legal dispute. Also, another objective would
be to link the content of the agreement to the basic legal principles in order to apply the
conceptual knowledge of the course to a real life situation regarding the online relationships
facilitated by the dating service.
Methodology:
In order to achieve the above goals, several steps were carried out. First, various online dating
sites were considered and narrowed down to three possible choices: eHarmony, Match.com, and
Christian Mingle. Three ideas were brought forth regarding which site to analyse in order to
determine which sites could potentially hold more issues and which site had sufficient content to
be analyzed effectively. Next in the process, eHarmony was chosen as the site that would be the
target for analysis. eHarmony is a very popular dating site and is well known due to their
numerous infomercials and online advertisements and thus presents a great opportunity to
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examine the elements involved in a formal and well-designed user agreement. Following the
choosing of a site, a copy of the user agreement from eHarmony was obtained and given an
initial review. This step acted as the first run through of the agreement, which involved
identifying possible legal issues in the clauses, highlighting important points form each clause,
and gaining a general understanding of the agreement. The agreement consisted of two separate
documents titled “Privacy Policy” and “Terms of Service”, each outlining the obligations of the
company and the customer respectively. In addition, an examination of the actual purpose and
requirements of the assignment was carried out. In this particular phase of the paper, the course
outline was reviewed and the outline of the paper was scrutinized, while the main objectives,
purpose, and necessary content were identified. Also, questions for the professor were prepared
such as an inquiry into the differences between an executive summary and an introduction as
well as what the best method of applying course material to the term paper would be. A rough
outline and schedule was established as a subsequent step. The paper was broken down into its
individual sections, such as Executive Summary, Introduction, Clause Analysis, Application of
Principles, Lessons Learned, and Corrective Measures and each part was assigned a time frame
in which it was to be completed. The time line consists of deadlines for each section and its
components and acts as a rough draft of the paper itself. Once a general concept of what the
paper would look like was obtained, the actual process of formally writing the paper
commenced. Key points from the outline/rough draft were expanded on in the body of the report.
The executive summary and introduction were added first, allowing for further arrangement and
planning for the paper’s progression of ideas. Successively, the analysis and explanation of the
clauses form the agreement were conducted. Each clause was explained in a simplified manner
in great detail. The process involved going over each clause from the agreement and simply
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rewording, explaining and justifying each clause. Notes on the previously identified clauses
where legal issues existed were also included. The next phase involved the application of all the
legal principles from the course to the term paper. Starting from the first lecture and using the
course textbook for clarification, each of the legal topics covered throughout the semester were
linked to the main theme of the paper: contractual relationships in the world of online dating.
Finally, the lessons learned from completing the term paper as well as recommendations to
remedy the legal issues in some of the clauses were identified. Taking each of the clauses
identified as having a potential issue, inconsistency or ambiguities were discussed and a solution
to each problem was given. Fictitious examples of how a problem could manifest itself as a
result of the clauses were also explained in this final phase.
Business Relationship:
The concepts covered in this report as well as the concept of a contractual agreement that
outlines liabilities, responsibilities and duties is inextricably linked to the modern business
environment. Such documentation is essential in order to provide a guideline of how to handle
issues when they arise in business practices. Business owners must be able to expect the
unexpected and be able to create a sort of contingency in the event that things go wrong. As a
result, they must be prepared to deal with these events and have proper procedures in place. The
documentation also acts as an “insurance policy” in the sense that it explicitly states the
responsibilities and risks associated with a product or service. This allows the company to avoid
being penalized or to suffer unnecessary losses because the customer or user was made fully
aware of the risks associated with the service or product, and of the responsibilities they take on
as a result of their purchase or membership decision. The ability of a company to understand and
implement such a system is essential for any business to succeed and will prevent unnecessary
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hardships that have real potential to sink a business indefinitely. In addition to covering the assets
of the business, documentation and explanation of what a product or service entails is crucial to
the consumer as well. The business has a responsibility on its own to inform the customer of
issues relating to privacy and use of the customer’s personal information etc. This ensures that
the business does not violate any legal doctrines regarding the safety and security of customer
information. Therefore, the relation between a contractual agreement between user and business
is one of preparation for the worst that could possibly happen to ensure the survival and
longevity of one’s business into the future, no matter what legal issues may arise.
III Clausal Description and Explanation
Document 1: Privacy Policy (3 pages)
1.) Statement of accreditation
a. States that eHarmony has been reviewed by TRUSTe, an organization that ensures
that online websites adhere to certain restriction and follow proper privacy
practices, and has received the TRUSTe Privacy Seal.
i. TRUSTe privacy policy guidelines state that a policy must include
1. Transparency: ability of the user to understand clearly
2. Accountability: responsibility for collection and application of user
information
3. Choice of information use: the user is awarded choice of how
eHarmony uses their personal information
ii. EHarmony has included this provision to state that it is designated by a
professional company that they adhere to privacy laws and ensure the
highest level of privacy security.
2.)Purpose of Privacy Statement
a. There is a brief statement that identifies the reason for and the function of the
privacy policy in the eHarmony site
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i. States that the statement discloses the privacy practices of eHarmony INC.
as well as any of its subsidiaries
3.)“What information we collect”
a. This clause identifies the types of information the company collects about the user
i. Information is separated into two main categories
1. Personally identifiable information
a. This form of information is defined as any information that
can be used to identify user
2. Non-personally identifiable information
a. The second category is the total information that does not
reveal the identity of the individual user
b. This clause is included to protect the company from users who make claims
against the company due to breach of privacy or illegal use of personal
information.
4.)“How we collect and use information”
a. The clause outlines the processes through which eHarmony collects the two
categories of information and how it intends to use the information it collects.
This is included to cover the company by indicating that the user is aware of the
collection and use of information by eHarmony, thus aiding in eHarmony’s
defense if a dispute should arise.
i. There are eleven different processes and uses of any user’s information
within eHarmony and can be outlined as:
1. Log files refer to any information that is collected about the
customer once they log into the eHarmony website. This includes
but is not limited to Internet Protocol addresses, Interment Service
Providers, the Internet browser used to find eHarmony such as
Internet Explorer or Google Chrome etc. , the number of clicks the
user makes while on the company’s site. The clause then explains
that the company intends to use this information to analyze user
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trends, provide the dating service, avert fraudulent activity, to track
general user movement through the website and to gather
demographic information about individual users. An example of
such information collection and its application is provided as well.
2. Cookies are used to track user’s activity whilst using the site. A
definition of cookies is provided as very small files placed on the
user’s computer to count site visitors and identify new visitors
compared to repeat visitors. eHarmony also uses the cookies to
identify user trends and save the preferences of its users to provide
more efficient use of the website. As a final statement, eHarmony
explicitly states that cookies are required for optimal functionality
of the site and if the user refuses to allow cookies to access their
computer, the user accepts all responsibility for the loss in
performance of the sight due to the inability of the site’s cookies to
operate.
3. Web beacons are identified by eHarmony as an accompaniment to
their use of cookies as they collect limited information about the
user and allow eHarmony to improve the website for its users.
eHarmony then proceeds to explain how the web beacons are
embedded in emails to provide them with information about the
user’s email preferences and activities. They then divulge a
statement of how eHarmony does not connect any web beacons to
personally identifiable information that could compromise the
user’s identity
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4. Information about you is collected by eHarmony in a variety of
ways. With the Single’s service, eHarmony takes information that
the user provides through the initial set of questionnaires that the
user must complete in order to join the site. The answers to the
questionnaire are voluntary and are used to create the user’s profile
for other users to see. However, eHarmony explicitly states under
this clause that the company does not allow other users to see
personally identifiable information and that the information is
completely confidential. The clause also discusses the use of
photos videos. Once photos are volunteered to eHarmony, they can
be shared with users of eHarmony services and are visible to others
using the websites.
5. Purchase information is collected by eHarmony, including name,
address, phone number, email address and credit card number.
eHarmony then states that the company only uses this information
to process orders or for some other identified reason. Note that this
other purpose is not spelled out in the clause. The clause then
explains that the transactions are very well secured through the use
of secure socket layer (SSL) which is standard, as well as a third
party installed security system, who also have access to your
information but only for the purpose of securing your information
from malicious software and users.
6. Emails and telephone calls are monitored by eHarmony once
users join. This section of the clause explains that once the user
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verifies their email address and phone number, eHarmony is able
to not only send the user emails and telephone calls, but also is
able to track what the user does with the sent emails from the
company. Email and telephone information is used for registration
as well as site promotion. The receiving of promotional emails and
calls can be stopped by following the directions provided in the
clause. Finally, a line stating that the company’s practices
regarding emails and telephone information is in full compliance
with the United States CAN SPAM act.
7. Demographic data is also collected by eHarmony for the purpose
of tailoring the site to suit user preferences and is provide to
advertisers etc. Information provided to advertisers is strictly non-
identifiable.
8. Online survey data is within the rights of eHarmony to be
collected and utilized. This clause states that they are entitled to
collect the information users enter into the company online surveys
in order to improve the site for users. In addition, voluntary
surveys are offered randomly and any restrictions or legal
implications will be provided to users. The clause also states that
eHarmony will not link the information from surveys to personally
identifiable information and the customer is not required to answer
survey questions as they are purely voluntary.
9. Information regarding your friends is openly encouraged under
this section of the agreement. The company requests that current
users recommend the site to friends by providing eHarmony with
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the name and contact information of the friend, which will be
stored in the company’s records for future use. A one-time email
offer will then be sent to the designated friend. The clause also
states that by agreeing to the contract, the user agrees not to abuse
the feature by providing the information of someone they know is
not interested in using eHarmony services. The clause also outlines
other circumstances in which the friend feature can be used such as
delivering the membership as a gift.
10. Public forum is a feature explained in this clausal sub category.
The user is cautioned that any information that they post on the
provided discussion board feature of the service is automatically
considered public information and it is the responsibility of the
