One more note about Craigslist ..

I’ve just reviewed the new Terms of Use (TOU) from Craigslist.  One section is particularly interesting. It seems that general search engines (how does one define that?) and noncommercial public archives are entitled access to Craigslist without written agreements.

“As a limited exception, general purpose Internet search engines and noncommercial public archives will be entitled to access craigslist without individual written agreements executed with CL that specifically authorize an exception to this prohibition* if, in all cases and individual instances: (a) they provide a direct hyperlink to the relevant craigslist website, service, forum or content;”

*The prohibition I highlight is the prohibition of copying, aggregation, or derivative use of CL content.

Given that eWillys is intended to be a public archive of vintage jeep information with free access to all users, I feel this statement suggests that the threat of  Craigslist serving me with a cease and desist order seems small at this point.  Frankly, I think they will be too busy dealing with their present lawsuits.

The bigger deal with the TOU change is the ownership clause:

Now,under the current TOU, when posting any content to Craigslist you grant Craigslist an exclusive license (they removed ‘non-exclusive),

“You also expressly grant and assign to CL all rights and causes of action to prohibit and enforce against any unauthorized copying, performance, display, distribution, use or exploitation of, or creation of derivative works from, any content that you post (including but not limited to any unauthorized downloading, extraction, harvesting, collection or aggregation of content that you post).”

This means they own an exclusive right to the content you post.  The implications of this are that if you add a company logo to a post, then theoretically a company could not use that logo in any other fashion without Craigslist’s consent;  if you post a picture, you cannot repost that picture on another website without Craigslist’s consent;  and it means, theoretically, you can not copy the text you post on Craigslist for an ad on eBay, your local newspaper, or for any other use without Craigslist’s consent.  Of course, Craigslist won’t enforce this right with 99% of users.    But, what if someone got control of Craigslist who had questionable motives OR Google or other websites added similar TOUs?

Will their TOU stand up in court?  The general consensus is NO.  Why?  As Plagarismtoday points out, “The reason is that, under U.S. copyright law, the transfer of a copyright or exclusive rights to a work require a written contract (PDF). This is not true for non-exclusive agreements.”  

UPDATE:  There seems to be some debate in the websphere about whether Craigslist asked Google to stop indexing its pages as reported earlier.  Moreover, this article suggests that Craiglist’s position vis-a-vis padmapper is very weak.  http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/craigslist-reportedly-blocks-search-engines-to-kill-competitors/

I wondered Monday morning why there were so few updates on Craigers and Searchtempest.  Well, now I understand why.  The following was posted on Craiggers Monday Night:

“At approximately noon on Sunday August 5th, Craigslist instructed all general search engines to stop indexing CL postings — effectively blocking 3taps and other 3rd party use of that data from these public domain sources. We are sorry that CL has chosen this course of action and are exploring options to restore service but may be down for an extended period of time unless we or CL change practices.”

As my father often says, “this is a problem.”

Even worse, Craigslist has sued padmapper and 3taps, while also changing the posting license.  According to this article,  “Essentially, the new terms allow Craigslist to pursue anyone caught posting (or hosting) an ad already displayed among its classifieds elsewhere on the web. Under copyright law, the company cannot claim ownership of core “facts” within each ad — things like an item’s price, the location of an apartment, and other basic information can be freely duplicated. What Craigslist can say it holds copyright over is the posting as a whole including description, photos, and other information.”

So, I will spend Tuesday with my kids and figure out what changes I need to make starting wednesday.

You can learn even more about this problem here:  http://www.bendbulletin.com/article/20120805/NEWS0107/208050321/

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