Re: Yahoo owns contents of geocities pages? (KMM4718612C0KM)

Ok, I know it doesn't *really* belong on this list, but I had to say
something about this double plus ungood service.

> > * Yahoo! has the right to reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, and
create
> > derivative works of your content only for the purpose of hosting
your
> > GeoCities site and providing and promoting the Yahoo! GeoCities
service.

What concerns me is who would then own these derived works. You, who had
no direct role in creating them, but nonetheless had all the
inspiration, or them? It seems to me that they could derive a work, then
claim it isn't yours, regardless of how similar to your own it may be.
How they then sel this work is anyone's guess.

And if my work was being used in what amounted to an advert for someone
else, I'd want royalties. Geocities is basically sying that want the
services of an advertising company, but isn't willing to pay them.

Admittedly, since I have never effectively had anything there, it
doesn't directly concern me.

> > For starters, we use many computers to serve to the world the
millions
> > of GeoCities home pages. In order to display your pages quickly and
not
> > lose any of your content (say, in a computer crash), we often need
to
> > copy your files onto more than one computer.  Very simply, the
license
> > assures that we can do this.
Deriving works is by no means the same as making backups to ensure
continuous service, you lying toe-rags.

> > In addition, if we choose to promote your page on the top of Yahoo!
> > GeoCities, or anywhere else on the Yahoo! network (even, for
example, in
> > a marketing promotion of Yahoo!'s many services), we need to
reproduce
> > the content. Again, the license assures that we can do this.
And if we believe we are fully capable of promoting our own sites? And
if we are ethically opposed to such use of our works? Are we allowed to
decline this extra free advertising in exchange for a more certain
promise of ownership?

> > There are many times when we use other companies to help us serve
web
> > pages on our global network.  Sometimes information is changed as it
is
> > served to the world. For example, if your page contains images in
JPEG
> > format and the other company's service uses GIF format, your images
may
> > need to be adapted to fit in.
Thus removing, or at the least, damaging, any watermarks we may have
placed into the image as a security signature. Certainly, reducing the
image quality of the .jpg files. A responsible computer company would
know the relative merits of .gif and .jpg files. But then, what would
Geocities know of that? In any case, I can't quite believe that a 3rd
party would *need* to have a converted file in order to effectively
display it. It sounds like you have been feeding them dodgy technical
support.

> > These are just a few reasons. Also keep in mind that the Yahoo!
> > GeoCities Terms of Service (which have been standard on the Yahoo!
> > network) are very similar to the terms of service of many major Web
> > sites and online services, including other home page providers.
I can only say that my ISP allows me unlimited web space on request, and
assures me that no use of the uploaded files is made except in so far as
is necessary to ensure continued service in the event of computer
failiure. Your terms are nothing like those of a responsible web space
provider.


---
Fabian
Rule One: Question the unquestionable,
ask the unaskable, eff the ineffable,
think the unthinkable, and screw the Geocities.