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Yahoo's Lawyers Take Over the Asylum
How much will your free Geocities site actually cost you if they "legally" steal your content?
By David "Spam Me and Die" Fiedler
Sigh.
They tried to slip one past us all.
Before I go any further with this, I want you to know that I'm truly sad to be writing this particular column today. I'm not one of those people who run around saying "Oh, sure, I know Jerry Yang", but I have met him on a number of occasions and he's always struck me as a Nice Guy.
Yesterday, Yahoo! took the first major steps in bringing millions of GeoCities users into its own network, after buying Geocities in January. Unfortunately, yesterday was also the day that Yahoo! quietly unveiled some new terms in its agreement with users of Yahoo! and Geocities properties...terms that effectively mean you're giving Yahoo! perpetual rights to any content you submit to them!
Paragraph 8 is the one we're concerned about here:
By submitting Content to any Yahoo property, you automatically grant, or warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted, Yahoo the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed.
This is one of the most horrific scenarios one could possibly imagine, but in a way I'm glad that such a high-profile company like Yahoo! was the first to try this little scam. Every time I've visited one of the sites that give you free Web space, I've read the Terms and Conditions carefully, because I was afraid that someone would try this eventually. This way, we can make enough of an outcry that perhaps we can shame Yahoo! into withdrawing the entire concept, as well as set a precedent that will effectively stop anyone else from doing the same thing.
We all know that nobody would visit any site on the Web if it wasn't for the content there. In the past, sites like Geocities would be content to sell ads on their site -- which contain your content -- and the deal was that you'd get free Web space. Now apparently they want to sneak your content into their pockets as well.
Well, we're not going to let them do that, are we?
I am indebted to Mark Welch, who runs Web Site Banner Ads Digest among other things, for pointing this out to his subscribers, of which I am one. Mark is calling for a boycott of Yahoo! and Geocities until they mend their ways.
Let's hope they see things the right way and fix this fast. Personally, I think Yahoo! is a great directory, and I use it all the time. But I'm going to give them a pass until they come to their senses.
After all, if Yahoo! didn't have all our content to point to, where would they be in the first place?
-- D. Fiedler
Evening Update: It's Worse!
I've been doing a bit of research, and it seems our friends at Yahoo/Geocities are not alone. Other sites that are doing this include @Home, Tripod, and Suite101. Because of the widespread nature of this problem, I've set up a personal outside site to act as a clearinghouse for information at http://dragonflames.com. Please go there for further updates on the boycott. Thanks!
David Fiedler is Editor-in-Chief of WebDeveloper.com, and his opinions are definitely his own.
Last modified: Wed Sep 22 06:18:07 EDT 1999
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