Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Wouter Vanden Hove <wouter.vanden.hove AT pandora.be>]

Hello, 

I know of several teachers/lecturers that use an MSN Group 
for communicating with their students. Sometimes they post
course-materials like textbooks and slides on such groups. Many of them
will restrict acces to only their own students in a private group.


now, in the license of MSN (that nobody really reads) is stated the
following:
http://privacy.msn.com/tou/default.asp

**************
MATERIALS PROVIDED TO MICROSOFT OR POSTED AT ANY MSN WEB SITE

Microsoft does not claim ownership of the materials you provide to
Microsoft (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input or
submit to any MSN Site/Service or its associated services for review by
the general public, or by the members of any public or private group,
(each a "Submission" and collectively "Submissions"). However, by
posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting ("Posting") your
Submission you are granting Microsoft, its affiliated companies and
necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection
with the operation of their Internet businesses (including, without
limitation, all MSN Sites/Services), including, without limitation, the
license rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display,
publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your
Submission; to publish your name in connection with your Submission; and
the right to sublicense such rights to any supplier of a MSN
Site/Service. 

No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission,
as provided herein. Microsoft is under no obligation to post or use any
Submission you may provide and Microsoft may remove any Submission at
any time in its sole discretion. 

By Posting a Submission you warrant and represent that you own or
otherwise control all of the rights to your Submission as described in
these Terms of Use including, without limitation, all the rights
necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input or submit the
Submissions. 
*******************


Is this license asking for trivial rights, just to be legally able to
operate the MSN-website in a way MSN-users intuitively expect? Or are
you giving Microsoft a license to basically do whatever they want?

If you have uploaded a textbook to private group, is Microsoft allowed
to publish it publicly, even outside MSN, and exploit it commercial like
for example in a commercial "Microsoft Virtual University"?
How is "without limitation" and "Internet businesses" to be interpreted?


Compare this to the other clauses in the opposite direction:

"For any Software not accompanied by a license agreement, Microsoft
Corporation hereby grants to you, the user, a revocable personal,
non-transferable license to use the Software for viewing and otherwise
using the particular MSN Site/Service in accordance with these Terms of
Use, and for no other purpose provided."


Greetings,
Wouter Vanden Hove
www.opencursus.be
www.open-edcation.org

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