And should we? A lot of people are, for different reasons....one of them there.
I'm not so sure we should.
I'll freak out if I come to the decision that I don't trust them - but for now I do. Why? Because what they are claiming in their TOS is pretty much the same as every other online entity out there. I think people just happen to be finally noticing it.
Wordpress:
By submitting Content to Automattic for inclusion on your Website, you
grant Automattic a world-wide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license
to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish the Content solely for the
purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting your blog.
Typepad:
1.5 By signifying your acceptance of this TOS or making any use of the
TypePad Service, you signify your irrevocable acceptance of this TOS,
the Terms of Use and the TypePad Privacy Policy in effect at the time of
your use...
8.1 TypePad does not claim ownership over the content you post on the
TypePad Service. After posting your content, you continue to retain your
ownership of your content and you continue to have the right to use and
license your content in any way you choose. But by using the TypePad
Service or TypePad's Web properties through which the TypePad Service is
available, you are granting TypePad a nonexclusive, worldwide,
royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable right and license to use,
reproduce, create derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform and
publicly display your content, subject to any restrictions on such
distribution which you may implement through any content distribution
controls provided to you by TypePad as part of the TypePad Service. This
license ends when you delete your content or your account (except to
the extent that your content has been shared with others or syndicated
to third parties and they have not deleted it). You may always decline
to submit content to TypePad, but please be aware that your decision may
prevent you from being able to use all or portions of the TypePad
Service.
Flickr:
...perpetual,
irrevocable and fully sublicensable [is that a word?! I guess it is, I see it with a red squiggle line under it up there in the TypePad rules] license to use, distribute,
reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and
publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate
such Content into other works in any format or medium now known or later
developed.
"Publicly accessible" areas of the Yahoo! Services are those areas of
the Yahoo! network of properties that are intended by Yahoo! to be
available to the general public. By way of example, publicly accessible
areas of the Yahoo! Services would include Yahoo! Message Boards and
portions of Yahoo! Groups and Flickr that are open to both members and
visitors.
SmugMug is quite a bit safer....but still:
You retain the copyright in any User Content you post on the Site.
SmugMug neither has nor wants any ownership of your Content. However, by
uploading and/or posting any User Content to the Site, you grant
SmugMug a perpetual, nonexclusive and royalty-free right to use the User
Content and the name that is submitted in connection with such User
Content, as is reasonably necessary to display the User Content, provide
the Services and to facilitate, at Content Owner's direction, the
license of Photos or the sale of Products on the Site.
You understand and acknowledge that any User Content contained in
public postings, including any galleries that are not designated as
unlisted, will be accessible to the public and could be accessed,
indexed, archived, linked to and republished by others including,
without limitation, appearing on other web sites and in search engine
results. Therefore, you should be careful about the nature of the User
Content you post. SmugMug will not be responsible or liable for any
third party access to or use of the User Content you post. SmugMug
provides many security options and settings for your content and you should read and understand them all.
And I think we're all pretty aware of Google right now, with their big change recently. And all of this is old news with regards to Face Book.
Which Big Brother should we trust?
10 comments:
I don't and won't pin. First of all, I don't have time. Second of all, it bothers me that I think instead of using it to catalog ideas it seems like it is becoming another area for people to judge our lives against the curated version of another person's life and feel that we come up short. As my friend said, it's like comparing your behind the scenes to someone else's highlight reel.
I love Pinterest because, like Flickr, it gets me motivated. And purely for enjoyment and entertainment! I'm not freaked out for the very same reasons you posted.
Thanks for saying what I've been thinking though!
For me, it's not the issue of granting these companies rights in perpetuity that is scary. As you point out, many online services use that as standard language. Pinterest takes it one step further:
" (i) you either are the sole and exclusive owner of all Member Content that you make available through the Site, Application and Services or you have all rights, licenses, consents and releases that are necessary to grant to Cold Brew Labs the rights in such Member Content, as contemplated under these Terms; and (ii) neither the Member Content nor your posting, uploading, publication, submission or transmittal of the Member Content or Cold Brew Labs’ use of the Member Content (or any portion thereof) on, through or by means of the Site, Application and the Services will infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other proprietary or intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation."
I certainly don't own all rights to all I want to pin. In some cases, due to repining, it is difficult to find out exactly what license the pic was originally published under. Please remember that 'posting to the internet' has significant case law classifying the action as publishing and thus postings are subject to copyright laws. Pins may not fall under "fair use" because pinterest choses not to retain copyright meta data yet saves the creative component (image) at its full resolution on servers. The ToS pass all costs of copyright infringement - including legal costs of defending Pinterest - squarely in the laps of its users. Regardless of who would win in a lawsuit, that's not a bill I'm willing to take responsibility for. See Kelly v. Arriba-Soft, 336 F.3d. 811 (9th Cir. 2003)
I'm definitely not freaking about it, at least until there is even ONE case of a company like this taking someone's intellectual property, or even ONE lawsuit against Pinterest and/or a Pinterest user. If/when that happens, I'll be happy to revisit the issue. Until then, I wish people would calm down and just enjoy a fun thing.
I had a momentary freak-out but I think you're right. I'm still pinning for now.
I am only pinning my pictures or from pictures that have a pin it button.
I am not really sure what you are all on about but i use pinterest to keep track of where i see inspiring quilts and blocks and fabric from blogs. then i can go back and find inspration easily. This also includes where I can buy fabric, patterns and books. Is this wrong? crlwilkie@aol.com
I am sure if you have noticed that pinterest has recently opened availability to companies and so they may have had to do some adjusting for that reason. It was originally only used by those wanting to pin places, things, pictures like links that you would want to go back too. Now Businesses are using it as a means to advertise, does that surprise anyone? I think if an individual links to someone/business that does not want to be on pinterest you will get a nice notice and have the op to unpin. I personally love the ability to pin rather then dirty up my desk top;)
Hi Angela,
Just spotted this in the blogoverse... wanted to give you a heads up if you haven't seen it? Looks like a copycat.
http://erinerickson.com/2011/11/circle-zip-earbud-pouch-tutorial/
I agree with Lee here. I have made an attempt to be more responsible about noting who made it etc in the notes of the pin, and pinning from the individual blog post rather than the general blog page.
I know several local friends who hate pinterest for some of the reasons you list - and also for the lack of control of pinning from the right source.
I must say though, I use mine more for actual inspiration and less for anything social etc. I'm picky about what I'm pinning.
Post a Comment