Diana Bang's ETEC 565A e-portfolio

This activity illustrated the importance of considering the various policies of companies including their terms of service and privacy. Since many of these social software sites are relatively new they are prone to change and may evolve over time. I acknowledge that it was a bit cumbersome to sift through and read the service agreements but it was worthwhile. It aids in the understanding of the contractual obligations of companies and users as well as informs a user about what kind of service agreement they’re entering into. With that said, I’m not sure whether most people even take the time to read these agreements before they simply sign up and start using a service. It’s similar to software downloads, how often do people read through the mighty scroll-down list of information prior to hitting the “I accept” button? However, with the continual advent of new resources it is imperative to gain an understanding and awareness of the complete terms that you’re signing up for rather than blindly following along with the masses.

For this social software activity, I chose to examine the terms of service (TOS) for the following four websites:

Flickr:
Yahoo!’s Terms of Use-http://info.yahoo.com/legal/ca/yahoo/utos/utos-ca01.html
Yahoo!’s Privacy Policy-http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/ca/yahoo/

Delicious:
Yahoo!’s Terms of Service- http://www.delicious.com/help/terms
Yahoo’s Privacy Policy- http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/delicious/
Yahoo’s Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy- http://info.yahoo.com/copyright/us/details.html?pir=0aoArcBibUno3PtL8xGZMXVYOuCAnQ1BcgegW9KX

Twitter:
Terms of Service- http://twitter.com/tos
Privacy Policy- http://twitter.com/privacy

Second Life:
Terms of Service- http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php?lang=en-US
Privacy Policy- http://secondlife.com/corporate/privacy.php?lang=en-US

1. In regards to ownership of materials posted by members:

i) Flickr – As this is run by Yahoo!, their terms of service explains that the content uploaded by a member is their own responsibility and in Section 8: “Content submitted or made available for inclusion on the service” it clearly states that Yahoo! does not claim ownership of the content that a person submits. However, it does grant Yahoo! world-wide, royalty-free and non-exclusive license(s) to the content.

ii) Delicious – In Section 3: “User-posted Content,” the terms of service for Delicious states that the posted content is granting permission to Delicious and others to access and use it “in connection with Delicious and otherwise in connection with its affiliates’ businesses. Individuals can attach a license agreement to their compilation of links but Delicious does not make any warranties regarding these” (i.e. they’re not responsible for the license agreements, nor liable for them, etc).

iii) Twitter– Under the section entitled “Your Rights” it states that individuals retain their rights to any content that is submitted, posted or displayed through Twitter. However, submission grants “worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed).” Additionally, they state that “what’s yours is yours- you own your Content (and your photos are part of that Content).”

iv) Second Life – I noticed that out of all the TOS I examined, the one for Second Life was the most detailed reading consisting of 12 pages (printed out). In section 7 “Content Licenses and Intellectual Property Rights” it outlines that individuals retain “any and all intellectual property rights you already hold under applicable law in Content you upload, publish, and submit or through servers, websites, and other areas of the Service subject to the rights, licenses and other terms of the Agreement, including any underlying rights of other users or Linden Lab in Content that you may use or modify.”

2. The purpose in which materials be used:

i) Flickr– Yahoo! states that it will use the material for the purposes of proving and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which the content was submitted.

ii) Delicious– Under section 1: Usage license, it outlines that individuals are granted a limited license to access and use Delicious in accordance to their TOCs. However, they also state that at any time they can charge for commercial usage in the future. In section 2: User responsibility, they state that Delicious serves only as a repository of information.

iii) Twitter– I noticed that under their “Basic Terms” they state that the services they provide are “always evolving and the form and nature of services that Twitter provides may change from time to time without prior notice to you.” Additionally, they can stop services either permanently or temporarily without notice and can limit the use and storage at their discretion. In regards to usage, the information that individuals use to post on Twitter is then distributed instantly, with the ability for others to view it from around the world. Also, in the “Your Rights” section, they state that Twitter can make the individual’s content available to “companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for syndication, broadcast, distribution, or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use.” They also have an “evolving” set of rules with their partners.

iv) Second Life– Section 8 “Conduct by Users of Second Life” outlines the usage rights and behaviours of its users and also section 7 describes how users grant content licenses to Linden Labs allowing them to use snapshots and machinima of their information online.

3. The site’s appropriateness for my students/healthcare staff:

i) Flickr– This could be used to share photos and images of diagrams such as evidence-based pyramids that they can discuss.

ii) Delicious– This is already used by library professionals and a wide array of individuals to share their favourite bookmarks online. I can see it being effectively used by healthcare staff to share new and commonly used bookmarks to help them stay current.

iii) Twitter– This could be potentially useful to share real-time, brief snippets of information/links to others. It would be particularly useful for individuals looking for quick information ready at their fingertips using their smartphones and other portable electronic devices.

iv) Second Life– I’m not certain how this site could be effectively used in my given setting as it is essentially a virtual world. Yet I have heard of some educators and library staff using it. However, I’m also aware of the downsides of its pervasive use as evident in the media. For example, there was a CBC documentary illustrating the destructive effects of its use on families and relationships at: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2008-2009/strangers_in_paradise/video.html. Thus, for any consideration I’d probably have to do more research on the benefits and use to realize perhaps the full potential that it may have to offer rather than the negative aspects.

4. In my opinion, how well are the privacy interests of members represented:

i) Flickr– Yahoo!’s Privacy Policy asks users that they consent to the collection, use and disclosure of information including the “transfer of this information to the United States and/or other countries for storage, processing, and use by Yahoo! and its affiliates in order to provide the Service to you.” It’s unclear what other countries would store this information and who the affiliates may be that have access to members’ information. However, it does have a notice on section 3’s “Your registration obligations” in that parents wishing access for their child is responsible for determining the Service’s appropriateness.

ii) Delicious– Interestingly enough, their Privacy Policy appeared to be in a state of flux as it stated that as of April 27, 2011 Delicious is owned by AVOS. During the transition period the site will continue to be run by Yahoo! and an person’s Delicious account is subject to Yahoo!’s Privacy Policy OR they can opt to transfer their information to AVOS and be under their privacy policy. Overall, Yahoo! states that “We may collect personal information, including email addresses, when individuals register to use the Delicious website and services, post a link to the Delicious website or submit questions, comments or bug reports. We may also, at times, collect our users’ IP addresses and information regarding our users’ use of our website and services. We may use such IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our servers, track movement within our website and, if necessary, deny service in accordance with our Terms of Service. We may also collect information related to the referring URL, access times and browser type. Unless required by law, we will not share our users’ personal information, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and usage information, except with their consent or in aggregate or anonymous form, with third parties.” However, I noticed that it also mentioned how they have the right to modify all or some of the Privacy Policy at any time without notice (so it does raise a question in regards an individual’s rights as it appears to offer more protection for the company).

iii) Twitter– In contrast, I found Twitter’s Privacy policy embedded in their TOS under the heading of “Privacy.” However, my initial thoughts that this small paragraph would outline everything was quickly squashed as I noticed a link within it that directed me to their complete “Privacy Policy.” In this complete version at: http://twitter.com/privacy it appeared that they keep track of a variety of user data including: registration info, tweets, following, lists, location data, log data, links, cookies, and third party services (including the use of Google Analytics to help them monitor their website traffic and other information). The ability for the user to permanently delete their Twitter account is included and individuals can modify or reactivate their account within 30 days if they choose to do so.

iv) Second Life– They also had a separate Privacy policy that was not included in their TOS. I located it at: http://secondlife.com/corporate/privacy.php?lang=en-US. In it, they describe in more detail the following aspects:

Overall, I noticed that the onus was primarily on the user in terms of the amount of personal information that they decide to disclose. As Second Life’s privacy policy states “Please be aware that such information is public information and you should not expect privacy or confidentiality of this information.”