I was thinking of joining VM but I'm taken aback by their ridiculous terms of service. Basically, Virgin can take anything you send or receive while on their network (text, sounds, pictures, documents) and use it for whatever purposes they see fit, including selling it for their profit. For example - if you take a pretty picture with your phone and send it to someone, Virgin can use it in their ad campaign. You write up an email with an original idea and Virgin can steal it.
Take a look at their terms of service, especially the bolded and underlined part. I looked at both Bell (which owns Virgin Mobile in Canada) and Telus and their terms are far more reasonable.
Any Content transmitted through or to the Services by you will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. Virgin Mobile and its Suppliers (as defined below) have no obligations with respect to Content. Virgin Mobile, its Suppliers and designees will be free to copy, disclose, distribute, incorporate and otherwise use the Content and all data, images, sounds, text, and other things embodied therein for any and all commercial or non-commercial purposes. You agree to grant to Virgin Mobile a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license, with the right to sublicense, reproduce, distribute, transmit, create derivative works of, or publicly display any Content submitted, transmitted or posted by you through or on the Services. You agree that you shall have no recourse against Virgin Mobile for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in your Content. [...]
Bell: http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShp_B...ement.page#Use
Quote:
18. Licenses
You grant us and our suppliers a world-wide, royalty-free, unrestricted license to use, copy, adapt, transmit, display and perform, distribute and create compilations and derivative works from, any and all user content you elect to post in connection with the Service, solely as required for us to provide you the Service and no other purpose. You acknowledge that we may store your user content on our or our suppliers' facilities for the purposes of you accessing such content, or others that you wish to have access such content, but that if such content is not accessed within a certain period of time (not less than 30 days from the last access unless we tell you otherwise) or if your Services terminate, we may delete such content without notice to you. [...]
[...] You grant TELUS and TELUS’ service providers a world-wide, royalty-free, unrestricted license to use, copy, adapt, transmit, display and perform, distribute and create compilations and derivative works from, any and all user content you elect to create or post in connection with the service (“user content”), solely as required for TELUS to provide the service. [...]
For both Telus and Bell, you give them the right to transmit the content for you in order to provide you with the service. This is because transmitting makes a copy and they need your permission to make that copy. For Virgin, they get to do anything they want with your content. Ridiculous.
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