Glass TOS Standard
The open standard for honest Terms of Service.
Glass TOS is a policy framework and certification standard that requires companies to write Terms of Service agreements in plain English, with mutual protections for both parties, zero IP exploitation clauses, and a legally binding summary that users must acknowledge before acceptance.
It is free to adopt. Free to reference. Free to build on.
The problem
Between 91–99% of users accept Terms of Service without reading a single word. This is rational — not lazy. The average TOS is 8,000 words of dense legal language designed not to communicate rules, but to strip users of rights, IP ownership, and legal recourse in ways they would never knowingly agree to.
The five most dangerous predatory TOS structures:
| Clause | Predatory version | What it actually means |
|---|---|---|
| IP & Data License | Irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license with sublicensing rights | Platform owns your content forever |
| Indemnification | You indemnify us against everything, uncapped | You pay their legal bills |
| Liability cap | Our max liability is $100 or fees paid | You have no real recourse |
| Arbitration | Binding arbitration only, class action waiver | You waive all meaningful legal rights |
| Termination | We may terminate at any time without notice, no refunds | Your business can vanish overnight |
The solution
Glass TOS is a measurable standard — not aspirational language. It has six enforceable principles, a compliance checklist, a tiered certification system, and a scoring rubric that can be run programmatically by tools like TOScan.
Every Glass TOS certified agreement must:
- Be written in plain English with a mandatory summary
- Protect the user’s IP ownership explicitly
- Include mutual (not one-sided) protections
- Provide a real dispute resolution path including court access
- Default to zero data retention unless user opts in
- Require forced acknowledgment before acceptance
Repo contents
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
GLASS_TOS_STANDARD_v1.0.md |
The full standard — all six principles |
COMPLIANCE_CHECKLIST.md |
Clause-by-clause checklist for legal teams |
CERTIFICATION_TIERS.md |
Bronze / Silver / Gold tier thresholds and requirements |
LICENSE |
CC Attribution 4.0 International |
How to adopt
- Read
GLASS_TOS_STANDARD_v1.0.md - Run your current TOS against
COMPLIANCE_CHECKLIST.md - Identify your target tier in
CERTIFICATION_TIERS.md - Rewrite non-compliant clauses — the checklist tells you exactly what to fix
- Have a consumer protection attorney confirm compliance
- Display the Glass TOS badge and publish your TOScan report
Certification
Self-certification is permitted for Bronze tier. Silver and Gold require third-party legal review. See CERTIFICATION_TIERS.md for full requirements.
Companies may not display the Glass TOS badge while operating non-compliant clauses. Certification may be revoked.
Scoring and automation
Glass TOS compliance can be measured programmatically. The scoring rubric is implemented in TOScan — a tool that analyzes any TOS document against the Glass standard and returns a 0–100 score with per-dimension breakdown.
Contributing
Glass TOS is an open standard. Contributions welcome:
- Propose changes via pull request with a clear rationale
- Major changes (principles, tier thresholds) require a 90-day public comment period before adoption
- Derivative frameworks must not claim Glass TOS certification unless they meet all requirements in this document
Versioning
Current version: v1.0 — June 2026
Future versions published in this repository. Canonical home: https://github.com/MotionActivated/glass-tos
Glass TOS v1.0 — Motion Activated / XMK — Kyle Schmutzler Open standard. Free to adopt. Trust by design.