Are disclaimers necessary?

[Guest S****r]

I notice some girls have a disclaimer about adult content as the first page of their websites. Is this really necessary? I do not have one on mine because I don't want to waste a whole page of the site for that. But if it is necessary, then I need to adjust. Anyone know the requirement? And whose requirement would that be, anyway?

 

Thanks for any advice!

[Tallguy007 4172]

I've always seen disclaimers as garlic against American lawyers.

 

Since your website doesn't have the US as a primary marker, and the site is advertising/marketing for services not rendered over the web, my opinion is that you probably don't need one.

 

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. ;-)

[zorobaby 4121]

im pretty sure if you have adult content you need the disclaimer to tell people ahead of time and to allow them to navigate away from your page. its not hard to build, the yes button brings them to your home page and the no button bring them to google/bing.

[CristyCurves 169032]

My web page is a "free" one and that disclaimer comes up automatically, I've often wondered about it's necessity as well. Also the need for the disclaimer I added concerning compensation. I only did because the few sites I looked at before setting up mine had this so I then thought it must be important to add. All in all, it is up to each of us to include or omit whatever content we choose, as to wether it's necessary, sorry I can't say. :) I suppose it's better to be safer than sorry.

[Meaghan McLeod 179664]

I am not an expert on this. My thoughts based on what the laws are, you do not need a disclaimer. I've seen disclaimers of "contains adult content, enter if you are over 18" - Yes you should. I've also seen disclaimers of "money is for time only, what we do together between 2 consenting adults", type of thing.

 

If you feel more comfortable, just put a little blurb on your front page. Don't need a whole page for it.

 

I think a lot of this goes back to the days when the laws were not as clear.

 

Today, unless you are working the streets, have high traffic, minors, drugs, neighbor complaints etc., its not really an issue.

 

I know there are more experienced and knowledgeable people out there that have a better understanding. I am interested in knowing what they say too.

[Guest]

Disclaimers are kind of like the liability insurance of the internet. It protects you from any legal issues. It is basically to prevent minors from entering you website. You must be this age to enter the website. It relinquishes you from any responsibility when people click the enter button. They are now saying yes I am 18 years of age and above and I am taking responsibility for ?whatever? while looking at this website. That they will not allow people underage to enter your website. Lastly if you have any links to other websites you are not responsible for what they do on other websites. I think it is very important to have.

[Midnite-Energies 110563]

I know the disclaimer for being over 18 is regarding the law on underage persons viewing such material. You are doing your due diligence to warn them that they are not permitted to view if they are under 18 so if they proceed, you cannot be help accountable because you had a disclaimer. Without that you can be charged with providing material to minors.

 

The disclaimer for donation versus rate is not needed as it is legal to charge a fee for services in Canada and as far as I've been able to tell, that's all provinces.

 

As Cristy said, better safe than sorry and too much is better than too little.