|this text taken from:
|
|http://come.to/boycottyahoo
|
|
|---BEGIN QUOTE---
|
|During June of 1999, the Terms of Service at all Yahoo properties (such as
|GeoCities) were changed to say the following:
|
|8. CONTENT SUBMITTED TO YAHOO
|
|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. You acknowledge
|that Yahoo does not pre-screen Content, but that Yahoo and its designees
|shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to
|refuse, edit, move or remove any Content that is publicly available via the
|Service. Without limiting the foregoing, Yahoo and its designees shall have
|the right to remove any Content that violates the TOS or is otherwise
|objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks
|associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the
|accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. In this regard, you
|acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content created by Yahoo or
|submitted to Yahoo, including without limitation information in Yahoo!
|Message Boards, Yahoo! Clubs, and in all other parts of the Service.
|
|
|(This is a direct quote from the Terms of Service page which you can find
|at: Yahoo! Terms of Service)
|
|In short, any content you have on GeoCities or any other of Yahoo's
|properties is theirs to use, ROYALTY-FREE, forever. Any images that you've
|made, any of your own copyrighted material you've made available, any
|pictures you've published, etc. belongs to them and they can do whatever
|they want with it, forever, in any medium "or technology now known or later
|developed."
|
|I bet you weren't aware that any work you've produced and shown to others
|via your GeoCities site now "belongs" to you AND Yahoo. Further, if you
read
|closely you see that they also gave themselves the "fully sublicensable
|right and license to use" so they can take your property, sell it to others
|(giving you nothing), or even license it to your competitor AND NOT PAY YOU
|A DIME!
|
|What's worse, you can't even take your content off of GeoCities WITHOUT
|AGREEING TO THESE TERMS! If you're there already, they've got your material
|now, lock, stock and barrel!
|
|It is time to show these corporate clowns that there is a large, diverse
|internet outside of their "properties" and they can shove their various
|services into whichever oriface they may fit, now or in the future!
|
|Stop using Yahoo. Boycott them, and all of their properties. This includes
|Yahoo.com, GeoCities.com and Broadcast.com. Don't buy products from
|merchants at shopping.Yahoo.com and let them know why!
|
|Let Yahoo know that you won't tolerate this! Email [log in to unmask]
|and demand that they let you remove your content AND demand that they
remove
|it from their databases AND demand that they won't use it without your
|express consent.
|
|Move your site to one of GeoCities' competitors (see list at left).
|
|Link to this page from your site (your new site, if you're moving from
|GeoCities) and let your visitors know that this issue is important to you
as
|a webmaster, even if you don't use GeoCities yourself!
|
|If you're a user and you use a site which is located at GeoCities, let the
|owner of that site know that he or she has just signed over his or her
|entire work to these goons and they should leave the service at once!
|
|If you are a graphics professional, design logos which don't infringe on
|Yahoo's copyrights but will give viewers the message that they are under
|boycott (think of the ribbon campaign to defeat the CDA last year).
|
|If you are a reporter, or know one, or know how to get in touch with one,
|grab their ear and let them know this is going on.
|
|Most of all, get up and TAKE ACTION. Yahoo and their "properties" don't
make
|any money if you don't use their services, so don't! Tell your friends and
|family, point them here so they can inform themselves!
|
|
|---END QUOTE---
|
|



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