BEWARE of AOL's fine print
JAMES DERK (Scripps Howard News Service)
I am not sure about you but I don't spend a lot of time reading EULAs.
The EULA, or "End-User License Agreement," is the yadda yadda yadda that you agree to when you install software on your computer. It's usually pages and pages of stuff that no one reads.
If you click you agree, then the software installs. If you click that you do not, the installation terminates. (So it's not like you get to negotiate the terms.)
It just came to light that America Online's lawyers, in what had to be a loss of sanity, amended the terms of service for AIM, its instant messenger service. It now says, (get this) that America Online now has the rights to any content that flows through the service.
"You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the content or to be compensated for any such uses," according to the AIM terms of service
If that wasn't quite bad enough, if you downloaded the software after Feb. 5, 2004, AOL now has the right to "reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote" all content distributed across the chat network.
Considering AIM is now the Esperanto of the teen world, this is a large change. But when you toss in that AIM is trying to elbow into the corporate world (with its "AIM at Work" initiative), it is potentially huge. On one hand you can't urge companies to use your tool to collaborate and then hide in the fine print that AOL has rights to anything created using the tool.
How many messages are we talking about? Try 2.5 billion messages DAILY just on AIM; an estimated 15 to 20 billion messages a day across all of the services. Of course, about 90 percent of those are like "D000z! Wazzzzup!" but you have to consider how many serious users of instant messaging are going to move to some other product. And what else is there?
There's Yahoo, which is pretty flaky in my experience; ICQ, which is also owned by AOL and MSN Messenger, which is included in every version of Windows. On the open source side, there's a cool tool called Jabber (www.jabber.org) that everyone ought to look at. On the corporate side, there are tools like Lotus Sametime, which are designed for enterprise use, too.
I think in the weeks ahead you'll see outrage against AOL and either the company will change its terms or companies will quit using the tool. Teens, on the other hand, won't care.
WEEKLY WEB WONDER: For the latest news about IM and the trends involving it, head to www.instantmessagingplanet.com.
(James Derk is co-owner of CyberDads, a computer repair company, and a computer columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim(at)cyberdads.com.)
I am not sure about you but I don't spend a lot of time reading EULAs.
The EULA, or "End-User License Agreement," is the yadda yadda yadda that you agree to when you install software on your computer. It's usually pages and pages of stuff that no one reads.
If you click you agree, then the software installs. If you click that you do not, the installation terminates. (So it's not like you get to negotiate the terms.)
It just came to light that America Online's lawyers, in what had to be a loss of sanity, amended the terms of service for AIM, its instant messenger service. It now says, (get this) that America Online now has the rights to any content that flows through the service.
"You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the content or to be compensated for any such uses," according to the AIM terms of service
If that wasn't quite bad enough, if you downloaded the software after Feb. 5, 2004, AOL now has the right to "reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote" all content distributed across the chat network.
Considering AIM is now the Esperanto of the teen world, this is a large change. But when you toss in that AIM is trying to elbow into the corporate world (with its "AIM at Work" initiative), it is potentially huge. On one hand you can't urge companies to use your tool to collaborate and then hide in the fine print that AOL has rights to anything created using the tool.
How many messages are we talking about? Try 2.5 billion messages DAILY just on AIM; an estimated 15 to 20 billion messages a day across all of the services. Of course, about 90 percent of those are like "D000z! Wazzzzup!" but you have to consider how many serious users of instant messaging are going to move to some other product. And what else is there?
There's Yahoo, which is pretty flaky in my experience; ICQ, which is also owned by AOL and MSN Messenger, which is included in every version of Windows. On the open source side, there's a cool tool called Jabber (www.jabber.org) that everyone ought to look at. On the corporate side, there are tools like Lotus Sametime, which are designed for enterprise use, too.
I think in the weeks ahead you'll see outrage against AOL and either the company will change its terms or companies will quit using the tool. Teens, on the other hand, won't care.
WEEKLY WEB WONDER: For the latest news about IM and the trends involving it, head to www.instantmessagingplanet.com.
(James Derk is co-owner of CyberDads, a computer repair company, and a computer columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim(at)cyberdads.com.)