Do You Sell Unattached Body Parts?

[Linda Buquet]

Kinda of a creepy ghoulish question appropriate for the Halloween season.

But I'm serious and want to know if anyone has any ideas about
what this could mean before I contact the merchant in question about it.

From the 5 Star Blog:

Why would an affiliate program prohibit affiliates that have "<strong>Unattached body parts</strong>" on their websites? Is there a rash of rogue affiliates selling arms and legs or something??? I don't think I've ever seen ANY site with <strong>Unattached body parts</strong> on it, much less an affiliate site, so why would this even be mentioned
in the affiliate programs TOS???

I discovered these odd program terms while I was doing some research for a client . The strange TOS is from a company that is one of the biggest companies in the WORLD and the affiliate program is on LinkShare. It's not a typo or anything because when I searched Google I found it on another one of the company's affiliate program TOS on another network.

<strong>Restrictions on Content - The pages on Affiliate's website will not contain the following content:</strong> Guns, Pornography, Gambling, yada, yada. All the usual suspects - all these I understand.

<strong>#6 on the list is Unattached body parts</strong>.

Just when you think you've seen it all!

Any ideas what this means or why someone would have it in their TOS???

 

[Rob_TID]

One of the forum members on one of my sites posted a pic on the forum of sth american police picking up a pair of pants with the lower torso still inside.

I guess that site would be in violation of their TOS.

But it's kind of like many companies who sell something like insurance and demand that their affiliates don't put their banners on porn or pills sites. I mean, do you really think a porn spammer would wate his time putting insurance banners on a porn site? That would be even lower conversions!

 

[Larwee]

There are also things such as this. I made it a point to leave take out the URL of the site as well as the site name:

Occasionally, we come across stories that appear so horrendous that we assume they must be urban myths or Internet hoaxes. Well, this time the story appears to be real. The Times, a leading newspaper from the United Kingdom, reports that a medical institute in Ukraine is selling fetal body parts on a Web site—body parts they argue would otherwise be disposed of. Jeremy Page and coauthors Sam Lister and Anthony Browne noted: “Tatyana Zakharova shook her head as she ran her finger down the page and read out the products on offer. ‘Fetus spleen cells, fragments of fetus spine, fetus liver cells...’”. These body parts and more are offered at the Web site: [The Web page is in the Ukrainian language.]

They are used for stem cell research and cosmetics.

 

[longroad]

People will sell their organs for money.. I think some tried it on Ebay in the past.
Yes people will do anything for money!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Ewwww... Oh no Larry!!! They must have added that to the TOS after that story hit or something.
I knew there had to be some type of logical or legal reason.

"People will sell their organs for money.. I think some tried it on Ebay in the past.
Yes people will do anything for money!"

True, but I'm still wondering if it really comes up on affiliate sites enough that it needs to be spelled out in the TOS. No other company on the planet considers it important enough to put in their TOS. For the most part just certain obvious infractions are covered in a TOS and most companies cover the same things.

People sell babies too and it doesnt say you can't have babies for sale. I mean you can't cover every little possibility in your TOS. Just seems odd.

 

[Larwee]

eBay says:

Human Remains and Body Parts Policy

Humans, the human body, or any human body parts are not permitted on eBay. Items that contain human hair (such as lockets) as well as skulls and skeletons that are used for medical purposes may be listed on eBay. eBay does not permit the sale of Native American skulls, bones or other Native American grave-related items, as the sale of such items may violate federal law.

 

[Rob_TID]

Wouldn't a general clause reserving the right of the company to determine "acceptabel content" protect them enough?