Development of Creative Commons licenses

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

Op zo 30-11-2003, om 08:13 schreef Brad Collins:
> Wouter Vanden Hove <wouter.vanden.hove AT pandora.be> writes:
> 
> > Op za 29-11-2003, om 11:32 schreef Brad Collins:
> >
> >> ... But to be fair this is probably a fairly standard licence which
> >> isn't much different from rights a traditional print newspaper
> >> claim for anything that is sent to them (like letters to the editor
> >> or an agony aunt).
> >
> >
> > I don't think these are comparable situations. 
> 
> [snip]
> 
> I agree, I'm just saying that the rights MS is claiming to anything
> posted on their network is simular to what traditional newspapers
> claim when you send a letter to an editor.
> 
> MS is claiming the right not only to reuse other's work, they claim
> the right to change it and present it to others out of context.  So if
> Richard Stallman wrote a diatribe against non-free software on a MS
> forum, MS claims the right to edit that post in any way even if the
> result is a message that changes what Stallman wrote into a diatribe
> against Free Software.  I don't think that would stand up in many
> courts, so I don't know how much weight their licence terms would
> have.  

Of course this is an extreme example, but suppose you post a draft of an
upcoming book to a restricted group to review, MS could publish it
themselves. Would this hold up in court? I see no reason why not, since
you have granted them such a license.



> What is Yahoo's policy on content posted on their hosted forums?

Nice you mentioned Yahoo.
Yahoo has a similar service: Yahoo Groups

Let's compare the Terms of Use with MSN's:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/





8. CONTENT SUBMITTED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR INCLUSION ON THE SERVICE


Yahoo! does not claim ownership of Content you submit or make available
for inclusion on the Service. However, with respect to Content you
submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of
the Service, you grant Yahoo! the following world-wide, royalty free and
non-exclusive license(s), as applicable:


      * With respect to Content you submit or make available for
        inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups, the
        license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly
        perform and publicly display such Content on the Service solely
        for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo!
        Group to which such Content was submitted or made available.
        This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to
        include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the
        time you remove or Yahoo! removes such Content from the Service.
        
        
      * With respect to photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or
        make available for inclusion on publicly accessible area of the
        Service other than Yahoo! Groups, the license to use,
        distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and
        publicly display such Content on the Service solely for the
        purpose for which such Content was submitted or made available.
        This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to
        include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the
        time you remove or Yahoo! removes such Content from the Service.
        
        
      * With respect to Content other than photos, graphics, audio or
        video you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly
        accessible areas of the Service other than Yahoo! Groups, the
        perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable 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 Service 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
Service would include Yahoo! Message Boards and portions of Yahoo!
Groups, Photos and Briefcase that are open to both members and visitors.
However, publicly accessible areas of the Service would not include
portions of Yahoo! Groups that are limited to members, Yahoo! services
intended for private communication such as Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo!
Messenger, or areas off of the Yahoo! network of properties such as
portions of World Wide Web sites that are accessible through via
hypertext or other links but are not hosted or served by Yahoo!.



I see much bigger differences then I expected!



Wouter Vanden Hove
www.opencursus.be
www.open-education.org