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5) AOL Owns Rights To Your Words
According to a posting on SlashDot ( http://slashdot.org/ ), AOL has invoked the "all your messages are belong to us" property grab that Apple Computer and Microsoft have both tried in the past (and failed).
acaben writes "AOL has posted new terms of service http://www.aim.com/tos/tos.adp for AIM, that include the right for AOL to use anything and everything you send through AIM in any way they see fit [ http://www.benstanfield.com/thrash/2005/03/aol_eavesdrops_.html ], without informing you. A sample passage: '...by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy.'"
If AOL had problems losing members before, this should enhance it significantly. ---Ken Kashmarek
An AOL public relations spokesman has since said that this policy only applies to posts in public areas; and that AOL won't monitor private discussions. But the official TOS says nothing at all about it being limited only to public posts; or that private conversations are excluded from AOL's "irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium." I guess your reaction to this will depend on whether you believe the Terms of Service, or an AOL PR flack....
5) AOL Owns Rights To Your Words
According to a posting on SlashDot ( http://slashdot.org/ ), AOL has invoked the "all your messages are belong to us" property grab that Apple Computer and Microsoft have both tried in the past (and failed).
acaben writes "AOL has posted new terms of service http://www.aim.com/tos/tos.adp for AIM, that include the right for AOL to use anything and everything you send through AIM in any way they see fit [ http://www.benstanfield.com/thrash/2005/03/aol_eavesdrops_.html ], without informing you. A sample passage: '...by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy.'"
If AOL had problems losing members before, this should enhance it significantly. ---Ken Kashmarek
An AOL public relations spokesman has since said that this policy only applies to posts in public areas; and that AOL won't monitor private discussions. But the official TOS says nothing at all about it being limited only to public posts; or that private conversations are excluded from AOL's "irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium." I guess your reaction to this will depend on whether you believe the Terms of Service, or an AOL PR flack....
