OT: AOL Claims Property on AIM Messages

[Fyron]

acaben writes "AOL has posted new terms of service for AIM, that include the right for AOL to use anything and everything you send through AIM in any way they see fit, 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.'"

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/03/11...tid=158&tid=17

Next stop: your soul!

[Azselendor]

Score one for Homeland Security and the end of your civil rights!

[Richard]

I don't think it has anything to do with Homeland Security, they could have easily put in a clause for something like this. No it sounds like they want to own everything that goes through their network. How does this work for groups of developers, at many Fortune 500 companies, who use AOL IM to discuss or send code around while their working on a project. Or heck just about anything else.

This just sounds way too vague to hold up in court. What is content anyway, that's going to be the clause that hurts them.

[Azselendor]

Actually, AOL is probally gonna use this for marketing and such, however, at the current time, business has near unlimited power to spy and monitor people. While people are protected from being monitored by the government, who can say the same about businesses being monitored by the government?

It goes back to the idea of a gov't office "Total Information Awareness" or something like that name which was shot down several times, so the people who thought of it pooled their money and created a private corporation to do it instead.

[Instar]

Disturbing news... but it is their network. They physically own it. It is up to the courts to decide if the IM network is analogous to the phone system, where you have to get a wiretap order or court order to record anything.
Personally, I think the IM network is similar to the phone network, just because I say something on AT&T's phone network, it doesn't belong to them.

[Atrocities]

No the reason for them claiming ownership is simply to use the information in the IM's to promote adverstising as well as to spy on their clients and perhaps blackmail them.

Companies for years have laid claim to IM, Email, and other forums of written communications as THIER property. My former employer stated that they owned all emails, phone messages, calls, and so on.

The funny thing is, a person, with an exceptional lawyer, could sue the hell out of AOL if some sick bastard made a date with their kid and then met up with them and an assualt or worse occured. HELL if they own the message then they assume full responsiblity for the content and INTENT of the message. Sue the AOL greedy bastards to hell and then sue again Ike just hurt the greedy bastards.

[Atrocities]

Additionally, to the legal aspect of what they are attempting to do, when people use their service they have a resonable expectation to privicy. Now that AOL claims ownership over the content of their converstation people will be far less likely to communicate ideas, talk shop, communicate private materials ans such. Theoretically if I were to send someone a BMP via AIM, they would, by their defination, now own that material. That alone would NEVER stand up in court. It simply is communication piracy along the same lines as the RIAA is now fighting. All because you use a privately owned IM network does not give that company the right to "own" the content of your messages. If that were the case and it were to hold up in court, then the USPS would "own" your mail and the content contained in it. Or the bank would "own" your money because you have it deposited in their bank. Or the phone company would own your phone converstations.

This AOL policy violates the Due Process and will never hold up in court. I fear that no one will challenge this in court and that other companies, quite possibly email companies like Hot mail or Gmail will do simular things and claim ownership over your emails.

No this is worthy of a blog all its own and a world wide movement to STOP the greedy bastards at AOL.

[Jack Simth]

Here's a question for you: If Person A writes a progam that essentially invisibly uses Person B's service, but doesn't include a notice that you also need to go and agree to Person B's terms for that service, and incidentally bypasses B's notification methods, Person C installs it, runs it, and uses (via proxy - the program) Person B's service, is Person C bound to B's terms? C was not notified at any point of B's terms; there was no reasonable way for C to even be aware of B's terms. Likewise, however, there is no reasonable way for B to know that C is unaware. Even completely ignoring copyright issues, what happens when C gets a bill from B for services rendered?

[Azselendor]

I'm not sure, but I do believe anyone that uses their service is bound by their terms agreement and all changes made to it, even without notification beforehand.

[Atrocities]

I could post a link to a very very disturbing picture of the greedy bastards at AOL, but since it is such a disturbing and well, pornographic image, I will not post the link here. However if any one wishes to see the AOL threesome drop me a line and I will send you the link. Mind you if you that a HEAVY warning is in play here and extreme CAUTION is warrented. So only ask for the link if you are willing to accept the risk and view the AOL greedy bastard threesome. I of course assume no responsiblity for causing your blindness and or mental health issues as a result of seeing this nasty AOL greedy bastard threesome image. WARNING it is not for the faint of heart and is one of the sickest things I have ever seen in my life and again, a strong warning is in play here.