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| ===Miku Charges Subscription for Previously Free Features:=== | | ===Miku Charges Subscription for Previously Free Features:=== |
| <blockquote>''Main Article: [[Miku Charges Subscription for Previously Free Features]]''</blockquote>All Miku users received an email on September 15'th 2023 detailing changes to the access Miku customers would have to features on their Miku devices starting October 1'st 2023. According to Miku, "For customers who did not previously subscribe to Care+, many of the features you have been receiving for free will now require a monthly subscription fee. " <ref name=":1" /> Despite many users purchasing their Miku device before these changes were instituted and had no prior knowledge that these changes would be put in place upon purchasing their Miku device, if they did not pay the new ''"care+"'' subscription fee, access to services on their Miku device would be revoked.
| | '''''Main Article:''''' [[Miku Charges Subscription for Previously Free Features|'''Miku Charges Subscription for Previously Free Features''']] |
| | Year: 10/01/2023 |
| | Aftermath: Ongoing |
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| ==Important Terms of Service notes and Arbitration Notices==
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| The Miku [[Terms of service|ToS]] is long, and can be potentially confusing for customers to understand. This section is meant to summarize and highlight important parts of the Miku TOS. Specifically, this section will cover:
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| #Miku Customer Requirements, Restrictions, & Reservations.
| | All Miku users received an email on September 15'th 2023 detailing changes to the access Miku customers would have to features on their Miku devices starting October 1'st 2023. According to Miku, "For customers who did not previously subscribe to Care+, many of the features you have been receiving for free will now require a monthly subscription fee. " <ref name=":1" /> Despite many users purchasing their Miku device before these changes were instituted and had no prior knowledge that these changes would be put in place upon purchasing their Miku device, if they did not pay the new ''"care+"'' subscription fee, access to services on their Miku device would be revoked. |
| #Miku's ability to change aspects of their services and your immediate agreement to them.
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| #The Customer's rights to stop using Miku services or products.
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| #Customer data retained after canceling Miku services.
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| #Miku's commitment to making content available on their services.
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| #Miku's [[Forced arbitration|Forced Arbitration clause]].
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| ====1. Miku Customer Requirements, Restrictions & Reservations.==== | | ==Miku Terms of Service and Arbitration Clause== |
| <blockquote>
| | '''''Main Article:'' [[Miku Terms of Service and Arbitration]]''' |
| ====''<u>Requirements:</u>''====
| | This article presents a summarized version of the Miku Terms of Service and Arbitration clause within it. Within the article, important Terms of Service information is provided to help others gain a better understanding of their agreement between themselves and Miku, and the rights and freedoms the have upon agreement to Miku's Terms of Service. |
| </blockquote>
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| Through using Miku services, submitting data to Miku services, or setting up Miku products. Miku is allowed to collect personal data of you and your child. Any data collected about children is collected from the parent as the "guardian".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miku ToS section "What about my privacy?" |url=https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722045420/https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc2 |archive-date=22 Jul 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |website=Miku ToS section "What about my privacy?"}}</ref>
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| Any content or data you share or otherwise upload or edit on Miku services gives Miku "a '''worldwide''', '''non-exclusive''', '''perpetual''', '''royalty-free''', fully paid, sublicensable and transferable license to '''use''', '''edit''', '''modify''', '''truncate''', '''aggregate''', '''reproduce''', '''distribute''', '''prepare derivative works of''', '''display''', '''perform''', and otherwise '''<u>fully exploit the User Submissions in connection with the Services and our (and our successors’ and assigns’) businesses</u>''', including without limitation '''for promoting''' and '''redistributing part or all of the Services''' (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and '''<u>through any media channels</u>''' (including, without limitation, third party websites and feeds), '''<u>and including after your termination of your account or the Services.</u>'''"<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Miku ToS section "Do I have to grant any licenses to Miku or to other users?" |url=https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc7 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722045420/https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc7 |archive-date=22 Jul 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |website=Miku ToS section "Do I have to grant any licenses to Miku or to other users?"}}</ref>
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| <blockquote>
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| ====<u>''Restrictions:''</u>====
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| </blockquote>Miku has many restrictions it places on customers upon agreement to their terms of service, Miku's ToS begins in this section by stating:
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| "You represent, warrant, and agree that you will not contribute any Content or User Submission (each of those terms is defined below) or otherwise use the Services or interact with the Services in a manner that:"
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| following this, many restrictions are put in place, of those, these are the ones that violate consumer rights:
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| *Decompiles, reverse engineers, or otherwise attempts to obtain the source code or underlying ideas or information of, or relating to, the Services;
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| *Jeopardizes the security of your Miku account or anyone else’s (such as allowing someone else to log in to the Services as you);
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| *Builds a competitive product or service using the Services, or builds a product or service using similar ideas, features, functions, or graphics as the Services or determines whether the Services are within the scope of any patent;
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| <blockquote>
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| ====<u>''Reservations:''</u>====
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| </blockquote>
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| Miku reserves the right to remove, edit, or modify any content at their sole discretion, at any time, without notice to the customer including but not limited to the following reasons:
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| *'''<u>No reason at all</u>'''
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| *Allegations from third parties or authorities concerning the content
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| *to remove or block any content from the services.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Miku ToS section "What are my rights in Miku?" |url=https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722045420/https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc6 |archive-date=22 Jul 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |website=Miku ToS section "What are my rights in Miku?"}}</ref>
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| ====2. Miku's ability to change aspects of their services and your immediate agreement to them.====
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| *Miku can change their paid services at any time, <u>including eliminating all or parts of their paid services</u>, '''<u>without notice to the customer</u>'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miku ToS section "Does Miku cost anything?" |url=https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722045420/https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc11 |archive-date=22 Jul 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |website=Miku ToS section "Does Miku cost anything?"}}</ref>
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| *'''<u>Miku can change their terms of service any time</u>''', if changes are made to their ToS, Miku claims: "we will do our best to bring it to your attention by placing a notice on the Miku website, by sending you an email, and/or by some other means." Miku also notes: "'''<u>If you use the Services in any way after a change to the Terms are effective, you agree to the changes to the Terms.</u>'''"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miku ToS section "Will these Terms ever change?" |url=https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722045420/https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc1 |archive-date=22 Jul 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |website=Miku ToS section "Will these Terms ever change?"}}</ref>
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| ====3. The Customer's right to stop using Miku services or products.====
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| *The customer is able to stop using Miku at any time and terminate the Terms of Service by contacting Miku's support email.
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| *'''<u>Provisions in the Miku ToS that state anything done after the termination of your account will stay as such.</u>''' (such as what this article mentions above with Miku customer requirements involving data retention, but is not solely limited to that.)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miku ToS section "What if I want to stop using Miku?" |url=https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722045420/https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc22 |archive-date=22 Jul 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |website=Miku ToS section "What if I want to stop using Miku?"}}</ref>
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| ====4. Customer data retained after canceling Miku services.====
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| Any data that is uploaded or created on or from Miku services regarding the parent or child can be retained by Miku indefinitely regardless of if the user terminates the ToS with Miku and cancels their subscription.<ref name=":2" />
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| ====5. Miku's commitment to making content available on their services.====
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| Miku does not guarantee that any content will be available through Miku services that both Miku, and the customer provide. <u>'''Miku reserves the right to change all content on their services.'''</u><ref name=":3" />
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| ====6. Miku's [[Forced arbitration|Forced Arbitration clause]].====
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| Miku's ToS contains a complicated forced arbitration clause.
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| Miku's ToS states that any dispute, claim, or controversy the customer has with Miku <u>must be determined with binding arbitration through a single arbitrator in either New Jersey</u>, <u>or submitted to a small claims court in New Jersey</u>. The location <u>may change</u> if it is overly burdensome to the customer, and a virtual arbitration or over-the-phone arbitration may take place, or different location may be selected by the arbitrator.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miku ToS section "Arbitration" |url=https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722045420/https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc28 |archive-date=22 Jul 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |website=Miku ToS section "Arbitration"}}</ref>
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| Miku's ToS explicitly states that any claims will take place on an individual basis, <u>upon agreement to these terms, you forfeit the right to participate in "class actions" or "class arbitrations" against Miku.</u><ref>{{Cite web |title=Miku ToS section "No Class Actions" |url=https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722045420/https://mikucare.com/pages/terms-of-service#toc29 |archive-date=22 Jul 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |website=Miku ToS section "No Class Actions"}}</ref>
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| == Broader Implications Regarding Consumer Rights and Ownership ==
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| From reading the Terms of Service, it is understood that if Miku Services were to go offline without notice (which they are allowed to do), any data you created on or uploaded to the Miku services of yourself or your child is able to be retained by them forever. If Miku services were to shut down, customers would lose access to many of the care+ subscription features already supported by their device. If a customer was to try and reverse engineer or otherwise rebuild the services which were shut down to be able to use the already supported features of their Miku device, this would violate the terms of service and the customer could potentially be fined or jailed for individually modifying the Miku device, or providing a public solution for others to modify their Miku device to return accessibility to these features.
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| ==References==
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| <references /> | | <references /> |
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Miku
| Basic information |
| Founded
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2018 |
| Legal structure
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Private, For Profit |
| Industry
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Smart Baby Monitors |
| Official website
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https://mikucare.com |
Miku is a private for-profit company that was founded in 2018 by Eric White.[1] Miku sells smart baby monitors with features such as night vision, sensors for temperature, humidity and ambient light, a 1080p camera, 7-day video storage, and audio/video recording capabilities.[2] Both the Miku Smart Baby Monitor (standard model) and Miku Pro come with a 12-month manufacturer warranty from the date of purchase.[2][3]
Controversies
Miku Charges Subscription for Previously Free Features:
Main Article: Miku Charges Subscription for Previously Free Features
Year: 10/01/2023
Aftermath: Ongoing
All Miku users received an email on September 15'th 2023 detailing changes to the access Miku customers would have to features on their Miku devices starting October 1'st 2023. According to Miku, "For customers who did not previously subscribe to Care+, many of the features you have been receiving for free will now require a monthly subscription fee. " [5] Despite many users purchasing their Miku device before these changes were instituted and had no prior knowledge that these changes would be put in place upon purchasing their Miku device, if they did not pay the new "care+" subscription fee, access to services on their Miku device would be revoked.
Miku Terms of Service and Arbitration Clause
Main Article: Miku Terms of Service and Arbitration
This article presents a summarized version of the Miku Terms of Service and Arbitration clause within it. Within the article, important Terms of Service information is provided to help others gain a better understanding of their agreement between themselves and Miku, and the rights and freedoms the have upon agreement to Miku's Terms of Service.
