attention industry

The issue isn’t Terms of Service.

There’s a general distaste for standard Terms of Service, with good reason. Most software, or social networks, more or less asks for a limitless free license to use your content however they see fit.

What people don’t seem to realize, is that this is a consequence of law not keeping up with technology, not of tech companies trying to rip you off.

Most sites demand the right to republish all content internationally, without limitations, for profit. Which sounds evil, until you realize showing ONLY you, your own content, and running ads in the margin, fits this definition. Until we make some kind of legal separation between publishing online, and broadcast / publishing in print, companies NEED to demand sweeping legal powers and protections, or face death-by-lawsuit.

The worry, however, should come into play when new media companies get acquired by old media conglomerates. At this point, legal powers over your content that were requested in good faith, come face to face with a culture based on maximizing the profit legally allowed from any and all content they hold the rights to.

The solution to this isn’t to boycott facebook, or blogger, or whoever else. The solution, hilariously, is for someone to sue someone else, so we can establish legal precedent for these situations. Unfortunately, all legal advice in these situations seems focused on avoiding litigation, and therefore the chance to actually determine what the line is.