Legal Question (where is the 'Litigious Talk' forum?)

i couldn't find the lawyer forum, but you are all a sharp bunch hence my posting this here: How does one write a "Term of Use" agreement for a commercial website to indemnify everyone and all involved from any legal repercussions from the general public?

the reason i ask is that i found out today that not only am i the designer for
TheLoveSearchEngine.com™ >(here's a peek at the homePage template)
http://webpageturner.com/love_search_engine

but as of today i am also a partner (owner) and i guess that also means legally my name is on it now and it scares me a little when i think about all the crazy people who unfortunately live in this world w/ me today.....the world is not that big of a place as the web has brought it way closer and people are more vulnerable....

here's the details: i've been given substantial sums of money to orchestrate what is, in essence, a marriage of a dating service http://Match.com and http://peopledata.com as TheLoveSearchEngine will provide direct access to any and all records currently on the web availble to law enforcement personel, employers, etc....as a "truth weapon" per se so if your first date shows up w/ flowers and candy and looks like the American Dream you can (if you are a member) go right on line and see if he's ever "done time in Attica" or on a more seious note....has he ever been convicted of a sexual fellony...harrassment, etc.....

BUT what worries me is that what we are providing is both grounds for people to want to come and throw bricks through my window (like if that guy i mentioned above w/ the flowers actually did do 20 years in Attica and my website just blew his cover....) and or take me/us to court to sue our pants off for invasion of privacy.....

SO..my question is....how binding/ stong is a Terms of Use Agreement that you see on sites.....as a legal granter of imdemnity to the parties involved (in this case us the partners and then me as the designer too) ?

The database for TheLoveSearchEngine.com™ is designed to hold over 6 million names..it is targeted at a very lavish audience too..there is a lot of money at stake here......there are going to be chat rooms (survivor style where U get booted out if U get 3 strikes against you) and even Pet Match for the Hollywood eccentricized users who want to match their French Poodle in Burbank w/ another purebred suitable pooch in , lets say, Paris.....

OK so there it is: you'll be hearing much more on this as the project will probably take over 4 months to complete .....
any LEGAL ADVICE would be GREATLY APPRECIATED
THANKS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

DAREN!
http://WebPageTurner.com


ps any techs out there might find it interesting that the login interface on
http://webpageturner.com/love_search_engine
is also "in" the flash movie/flash interface....and the flash actually calls out to variables on an .asp page on my server and then returns a string.....captured back into the Flash.....as eventually this will all be a Flash/ asp powered website. you can temporarilay "log in" to a temp page using
USERNAME=WebPageTurner
PASSWORD=12345

if you forget the password the hint is "Count your fingers on your hand" lol ;-0

[mikmik]

daren asks :

where is the 'Litigious Talk' forum?

Don't know if this will help much, but a similar topic here:
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic...ht=legal#47032

[rocky1]

Given the sheer magnitude of what you're getting yourself into there Daren, (and you seem to have left out the possibility of dates going way wrong and being sued by clients as well)... I would highly recommend you seek legal counsel on this matter. Were it me I'd want a disclaimer that was at least a full page, if not four or five pages long! I don't think this is one you yourself want to be contriving, nor would I suggest relying upon folks who spend months at a time conversing about Jell-O and EEG's for legal advice.

Originally Posted by rocky1

Given the sheer magnitude of what you're getting yourself into there Daren, (and you seem to have left out the possibility of dates going way wrong and being sued by clients as well)... I would highly recommend you seek legal counsel on this matter. Were it me I'd want a disclaimer that was at least a full page, if not four or five pages long! I don't think this is one you yourself want to be contriving, nor would I suggest relying upon folks who spend months at a time conversing about Jell-O and EEG's for legal advice.

I hear ya Rocky!!! That is precisely why I'm a little nervous about the whole thing....we (my design company & our parent comapny in NYC) have two good lawyers but they are entertainment lawyers and I've never met them in person even though their signatures are all over documents in my office.....they have done a great job in terms of helping us build out various aspects of our company(ies) so far.......but I don't know them from Adam and they aren't "Internet Lawyers" from what I see from my point of view down here in Palm Beach, FLorida....

My other partners in NYC are basically investors & silent partners (we all know each other from the Music Biz/Ent Biz in the 1990's) and while they have a lot of $$ they have little experience in the technical aspects of the www and it's gets a little frustrating because sometimes all they tell me is "don't worry about it" and send me another check........but, like...."I am worrying about it" lol....

SO I am looking for good Floirda lawyers to hire of course.....but i also i put it here in the forum to see if anyone can point me in the right direction too....as i truly look up to all of you for advice; even though i have been very successful in the very (relatively) short time i have had my own web design business, i am still really a ECommerce Newbie at heart and i don't know anything about so much (like the legal aspects) of this part of the business that it scares me to death.......

I made a TERMSofUSE agrement for this Palm Beach dating service back in June of this year
http://pbloveconnection.com/index1.html
but i basically just copied all the tenets from Match.com and datingplace.com
and the service has been discontinued anyway: as when i tried to contact my former boss for advice (who owns pbloveconnection.com) i found that she has a very serious illness and is in hospital indefinitely....


Thanks ROcky!
MikMik> thanx for the thread reference too!

DAREN
http://WebPageTurner.com