### Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight

The Arduino community is built on a foundation of openness and trust. So, when Arduino recently announced updates to its Terms of Service (ToS) and Privacy Policy, the community understandably paid close attention. The initial reaction to the legal language, particularly concerning user-uploaded content, sparked a significant amount of concern, confusion, and debate across forums and social media.

Let’s break down the core issues, clarify the intent behind the changes, and set the record straight on what this update actually means for makers and their projects.

#### The Point of Contention: User Content and Licensing

The main source of alarm stemmed from a clause in the new Terms of Service regarding “User Content.” The language granted Arduino a “perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display” any content users post on Arduino’s online services.

To many, this sounded like a massive overreach. The immediate fear was that Arduino was claiming ownership of any code, design, or tutorial uploaded to platforms like the Arduino Project Hub, the forums, or Arduino Cloud. Was the company trying to take intellectual property from the very community that built it?

The short answer is no. This is a classic case where standard legal language, designed to protect a platform’s ability to operate, clashes with the expectations of an open-source community.

#### So, What Does That Legal Clause Actually Mean?

Arduino’s clarification on the matter was crucial. The license you grant is not about ownership. You still own your content. Instead, the license is what allows Arduino’s services to *function*.

Consider what happens when you post a project on the Arduino Project Hub:

* **Distribute & Display:** Arduino needs the right to show (display) your text and images to other users around the world (distribute).
* **Reproduce:** When they back up their servers, they are making a copy (reproducing) your content.
* **Modify & Adapt:** To display your project correctly on different devices (desktop, mobile, tablet), the platform may need to automatically resize images or reformat text (modify, adapt).
* **Create Derivative Works:** This sounds scary, but it can be as simple as creating a thumbnail image of your project for a gallery page.

Without these permissions, Arduino legally couldn’t host or share the content you voluntarily upload. This type of clause is standard in the terms of service for virtually every online platform that hosts user-generated content, from Facebook and YouTube to GitHub.

Crucially, this license applies *only* to content you explicitly post on Arduino’s public and cloud services. It does not apply to the code that lives exclusively on your computer or the hardware designs you develop in your own workshop.

#### What About the Privacy Policy Update?

The Privacy Policy update was primarily aimed at providing greater transparency and aligning with modern data protection standards. Like the ToS, it reflects Arduino’s growth from a simple hardware provider to a company offering integrated cloud services and more sophisticated software, like the Arduino IDE 2.0.

The new policy clarifies what data is collected and why. For services like the Arduino Cloud, data is necessary for the service to function—storing your sketches, managing your IoT devices, and providing dashboard data. For the IDE, anonymous usage data helps the development team identify bugs, prioritize features, and understand how the software is being used in the real world to make it better. While any data collection warrants scrutiny, the purposes outlined are standard for improving modern software and services.

#### The Takeaway: Communication is Key

The uproar following the ToS update serves as a powerful lesson in communication. While the legal language used by Arduino is standard for the tech industry, it was not communicated in a way that resonated with the trust-based, open-source ethos of its community.

Arduino has since listened to the feedback and worked to clarify its position, emphasizing that they are not, and have never intended to, claim ownership of your intellectual property. Your projects are your own. The updates are in place to allow their online tools and platforms to operate legally and effectively as they continue to grow. For makers, it’s a reminder to always read the fine print, but also to understand the functional reasons behind the legal jargon.