Terms of Service; Didn't Read

Terms of Service; Didn't Read (ToS;DR) is a community project that aims to analyze and grade the Terms of Service (ToS) and privacy policies of major Internet sites and services. Each aspect of a ToS or privacy policy is assessed as positive, negative, blocker, or neutral. Services are graded from A (best) to E (worst) once a comprehensive list of cases has been reviewed by volunteer curators.^[3]^[4]^[5] The project's name is a play on the phrase too long; didn't read.^[1]

The project was founded in June 2012 by Hugo Roy, programmer Michiel de Jong, and designer Jan-Christoph Borchardt.^[6] It was led by Hugo Roy, when he was a law student,^[7] from 2012 to 2015. In 2020, the project was revived with a larger team.

The project offers a browser extension for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Opera, which shows the grade and a short description of the privacy policy if a website is compatible.^[8]^[9]

History

Several sources of inspiration have been noted for ToS;DR, including Creative Commons' plain English summaries of licenses, EU energy efficiency ratings,^[10] and Aza Raskin's Privacy Icons.

As of 2024, ToS;DR's grading system had been integrated into Yorba, a privacy-oriented personal information management platform, to provide users with summarized evaluations of companies' privacy policies.^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b"About - Terms of Service; Didn't Read". Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^"Terms of Contribution - Terms of Service; Didn't Read". Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^Brown, Mark (15 August 2012). "ToS;DR website translates terms of service agreements into English". Wired. Archived from the original on 18 August 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^Blagdon, Jeff (14 August 2012). "ToS;DR reads the terms of service so you don't have to". The Verge. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^Klosowski, Thorin (8 August 2012). "ToS;DR Is a One-Stop Shop for Webapp Terms of Service Ratings". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^"About Us -- Terms of Service; Didn't Read". Archived from the original on 2020-12-12. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
^Luckerson, Victor (10 August 2012). "Facebook, Google, Others Have Privacy Policies Explained on New Website". Time. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^"Downloads -- Terms of Service; Didn't Read". tosdr.org. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^Brinkmann, Martin (2017-08-20). "Terms of Service; Didn't Read: TOS Summaries - gHacks". gHacks. Archived from the original on 2023-03-23. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^Finley, Klint (13 August 2012). "Putting An End To The Biggest Lie On The Internet". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^Perez, Sarah (2024-02-22). "Yorba's service is like Mint for uncluttering your entire digital life". TechCrunch. Yahoo Inc. Retrieved 2025-11-03.

External links

Official website

[about_page-1] "About - Terms of Service; Didn't Read". Retrieved 14 April 2023.

[terms_of_contribution-2] "Terms of Contribution - Terms of Service; Didn't Read". Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

[Brown-3] Brown, Mark (15 August 2012). "ToS;DR website translates terms of service agreements into English". Wired. Archived from the original on 18 August 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

[Blagdon-4] Blagdon, Jeff (14 August 2012). "ToS;DR reads the terms of service so you don't have to". The Verge. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

[Klosowski-5] Klosowski, Thorin (8 August 2012). "ToS;DR Is a One-Stop Shop for Webapp Terms of Service Ratings". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

[6] "About Us -- Terms of Service; Didn't Read". Archived from the original on 2020-12-12. Retrieved 2016-09-15.

[Luckerson-7] Luckerson, Victor (10 August 2012). "Facebook, Google, Others Have Privacy Policies Explained on New Website". Time. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

[8] "Downloads -- Terms of Service; Didn't Read". tosdr.org. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

[9] Brinkmann, Martin (2017-08-20). "Terms of Service; Didn't Read: TOS Summaries - gHacks". gHacks. Archived from the original on 2023-03-23. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

[Finley-10] Finley, Klint (13 August 2012). "Putting An End To The Biggest Lie On The Internet". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2023.

[TC24-11] Perez, Sarah (2024-02-22). "Yorba's service is like Mint for uncluttering your entire digital life". TechCrunch. Yahoo Inc. Retrieved 2025-11-03.

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