OT: AOL/AIM new Terms & Conditions

[Eric Dunbar]

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 11:53:33 +0100, Duncan Lithgow
<duncan at lithgow-schmidt.dk> wrote:
> > well, remember gmail and all hypes about scan email contents to show you
> > ADS? this is what AOL wants to do, robots monitor your talk looking for
> > most used "keywords" then show you ADS related to your "chat" at AOL web
> > pages, anyway! AOL is not first but at last they announced it, others do
> > it without telling you, I'm glade I don't use any of AOL services.
> 
> thanks for the mention of gmail, i hadn't thought of that. But they are
> not the same thing at all. One could easily write a toc which gave one
> the right to electronically scan content and supply relevant ads
> *without* conneting that gathered info with your identity.
> 
> But that's not what the new AOL/AIM/IRC TOC says:
> 
> "In addition, 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. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the
> Content or to be compensated for any such uses."

Privacy and Big Brother are sticky issues. Google has one of the
longest and easily read "privacy" statements I've come across -- if
you're a GMail user you may want to read through it (nothing
surprising there, and also no such thing as AOL's "we own you"
statement).

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/privacy.html

Eric.