Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Websites for Writers…Maybe Not

The other day, I received an email from Dropbox saying they changed their Terms of Service. Normally this isn't a big deal, but it has serious implications for us writers: Dropbox has changed their terms of service to give them free license to whatever you upload. Check out their Terms of Service and go to the section marked Your Stuff & Your Privacy.

“We sometimes need your permission to do what you ask us to do with your stuff (for example, hosting, making public, or sharing your files). By submitting your stuff to the Services, you grant us (and those we work with to provide the Services) worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works (such as translations or format conversions) of, perform, or publicly display that stuff to the extent we think it necessary for the Service. You must ensure you have the rights you need to grant us that permission.”

(Bolding is my own)

Now, I understand they need permission to reproduce your work if, say, it’s part of a file share and they need to copy it for the other computers that belong to the network. But, correct me if I’m wrong, they are saying that by backing up your files on Dropbox, they can publicly display it and they don’t need your permission. Not that I think they would. I just don’t like that they can do it at all.

Surely there is some middle ground between never copying the work (which would defeat the purpose of an internet backup) and having license to publicly display it. Is that really necessary?

Maybe this is a little paranoid, but I’m not using Dropbox anymore and I’m retracting my recommendation for it. Right now, the only one with authority to display my work is me, and I’m keeping it that way.

What do you think of these new terms of service? What do you use to back up your work?

14 comments:

  1. I would absolutely not be in agreement with that. Distribute? Display? Perform? What the--?? You are basically giving them rights that an author should only be giving a publisher. Wonder how many writers even bother reading those terms and conditions?

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  2. Yikes! That doesn't sound too good. I email myself files that need to be backed up. It's just easier that way.

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  3. Thanks for this post. I noticed Dropbox had changed their policy, but I didn't understand what that meant. From now on, I'm going to back-up my files somewhere else.

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  4. It's troublesome; I'm using drop box for collaborative work with my partner.

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  5. This is all wrong! They shouldn't have the right to use our work at all...and I'm going to contact them.

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  6. I took a few things off after I saw that the other day, but left essays and whatnot. I figure anyone reading my essays deserves the coma they've induced themselves into.

    Having said that, I'm irritated. I'm sure there's some lawyer getting paid a lot of money for this. :( From the sound of their own blog, though, they're getting a lot of complaints, so perhaps this will be retracted.

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  7. This section is also worrying:

    "...worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights..."

    Basically, although it is a non-exclusive license, they are able to sublicense any of the rights they have access to. In other words, if you agree to this, they can then give others permission to use your work in the same way they themselves have the license to do, and the writer would not receive any reimbursement (royalty free).

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  8. Ooh. Everyone thank Sari for bringing that up. Legalese is so dense.

    It all makes me think WHY this is necessary for them to run their business. It seemed to work out fine before.

    The point of online storage is to backup your data or share it with others. These Terms of Service are unreasonable.

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  9. Yikes. I definitely should have read that email. Thanks for this post!

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  10. WOAH. I don't use dropbox, but after reading this I definitely will avoid doing so in future! Thanks for the heads up.

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  11. I think you guys should go back and check out the clarification dropbox supplied. At first I was a little freaked out, but they did say we own anything that is ours and then showed us another example; the google doc tos. I know sooo many writers who use google doc and guess what it's the exact same thing.

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  12. I've never even heard of Dropbox, but that definitely sounds fishy and I won't be using them in the future. They shouldn't have any right to display your work without your permission, period, end of.

    That's why God invented the USB Flash Drive! Works for me. :-)

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  13. Even if they do say we own what's ours, this says they have license to use it as they see fit. They may not go around publishing people's work and it probably would get them in trouble if they did try, but that doesn't make this change necessary or proper. If Google Docs ToS says this too, I wouldn't use them either.

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  14. Just came back to say I gave you a blog award! It's on my blog today. (Of course, it will be there tomorrow, too, and the next day, etc.)

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Please validate me.