Social software, social networking, social utility, social bookmarks; there’s plenty of them out there: Friendster, Facebook, LinkedIN, MySpace, Orkut, digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, reddit, et al. And there are the media sharing networks: Flickr, YouTube, Picasa, et al; and the blogging networks: Blogger/Blogspot, WordPress, Multiply Blogs, Facebook Blogs, Friendster Blogs, et al.

Unfortunately, the most popular of these social networking utilities are also the ones that implement the worst Terms of Service (TOS), the worst Privacy Policies and the worst software development principles. The top 2 of the worst in my list on the basis of their policies on rights to user content are: Friendster and Facebook.

On my website, I use a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License for creative work. In this license, people are free:

to Share - to copy, distribute and transmit the work;

Under the following conditions:

• Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
• Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
• No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

• For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.
• Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
• Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights.

With this license, I authorize others who wish to use my creative work to do so in accordance with the Creative Commons license. Creative Commons licenses are also all non-exclusive. This means that I can permit the general public to use my creative work under a Creative Commons license and then enter into a separate and different non-exclusive license with someone else, for example, in exchange for money. Or worse, a social networking service that unilaterally states that I am granting them broad rights to my creative work if I post them on my profile pages or blogs in their websites, and worse, if I use their “Share Link” mechanisms on my website.

Anybody who nitpicks the TOS may seem crazy but it’s worth the nitpicking:

Friendster:

5. Proprietary Rights in Content. (b) Rights in Content Posted by You. By publishing, displaying or uploading (collectively, “Posting”) any text, links, photos, video, messages or other data or information (collectively, “Content”) on or to the Website (including on or to your profile), you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to Friendster an irrevocable, perpetual, nonexclusive, fully-paid and worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display and distribute such Content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such Content and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

Facebook:

User Content Posted on the Site
By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

Use of Share Links by Online Content Providers
A “Share Link” is a button and/or a text link appearing on an Online Content Provider’s web page that, upon being clicked by a user, enables us to launch a sharing mechanism through which users can share with others or post to their own member profile, links and content from that page.

By including a Share Link, Online Content Provider automatically grants, and represents and warrants that it has the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use the Share Service in order to link to, use, copy, publish, stream, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part), summarize, and distribute the content, links and other materials of any kind residing on any web pages on which Online Content Provider places the Share Link.

Not all social utility TOS’s are like this. It doesn’t have to be if only we make the right choices and support those who genuinely care about the sharing and service in “socials.”

One noteworthy example is WordPress, the open source blog software that also offers free blogging services (even their TOS is CC Share-alike). In their TOS, it is clear that your content won’t be exploited:

By submitting Content to Automattic [the company that makes WordPress) for inclusion on your Website, you grant Automattic a world-wide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish the Content solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting your blog. If you delete Content, Automattic will use reasonable efforts to remove it from the Website, but you acknowledge that caching or references to the Content may not be made immediately unavailable.

On YouTube, it is explicitly stated as to what happens to user provided content, however, unlike WordPress, the user is granting YouTube rights to user content not only for displaying, distributing and promoting user-related purposes, but for derivative, commercial, YouTube-related and YouTube affiliates and business-related purposes:

6. Your User Submissions and Conduct
C. For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube’s (and its successors’ and affiliates’) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the YouTube Website (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the YouTube Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Website, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such User Submissions as permitted through the functionality of the Website and under these Terms of Service. The above licenses granted by you in User Videos terminate within a commercially reasonable time after you remove or delete your User Videos from the YouTube Service. You understand and agree, however, that YouTube may retain, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of User Submissions that have been removed or deleted. The above licenses granted by you in User Comments are perpetual and irrevocable.

Furthermore, YouTube, unlike WordPress, will retain deleted user content on their servers.

On Google/Blogger, the agreement is more similar to WordPress, and also allows users to implement Creative Commons licenses to their submitted content:

Your Intellectual Property Rights. Google claims no ownership or control over any Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Google services. You or a third party licensor, as appropriate, retain all patent, trademark and copyright to any Content you submit, post or display on or through Google services and you are responsible for protecting those rights, as appropriate. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Google services which are intended to be available to the members of the public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, publish and distribute such Content on Google services for the purpose of displaying and distributing Google services. Google furthermore reserves the right to refuse to accept, post, display or transmit any Content in its sole discretion.

You represent and warrant that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the rights granted herein to any Content submitted.

You may choose to submit, post, and display any materials on or through the Blogger service or Blogspot.com under a public license (e.g. a Creative Commons license), whether by manually marking your materials as such or using Blogger service tools to do so. For avoidance of doubt, Google is not a party to any such public license between you and any third party. Also, for avoidance of doubt, Google may choose to exercise the rights granted under (a) the public license or licenses, if any, you apply to your materials or (b) this Agreement.

Yahoo/Flickr and Yahoo-owned services have distinctions between types of content that users submit to them, and the level of rights users grant to Yahoo (and the terms get worse from a to c), so one should be careful in reading the TOS:

9. CONTENT SUBMITTED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR INCLUSION ON THE SERVICE

Yahoo! does not claim ownership of Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Service. However, with respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service, you grant Yahoo! the following worldwide, royalty-free, transferable and non-exclusive license(s), as applicable:

(a) With respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, broadcast, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Service solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted or made available. This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the time you remove or Yahoo! removes such Content from the Service.

b) With respect to photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service other than Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, publish, broadcast, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Service solely for the purpose for which such Content was submitted or made available. This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the time you remove or Yahoo! removes such Content from the Service.

(c) With respect to Content other than photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service other than Yahoo! Groups, the perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, broadcast, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

As for social bookmarking services, the TOS’s dictate you to grant the Company the right to use, alter, modify, etc. your work even for commercial purposes, as well as the right to grant and authorize sublicenses.

On reddit.com:

3. Use Of Material Supplied By You:

For information regarding use of information about you that you may supply or communicate to the Website, please see our Privacy Policy. Except as expressly provided otherwise in the Privacy Policy, you agree that by posting messages, uploading files, inputting data, or engaging in any other form of communication with or through the Website, you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, enhance, transmit, distribute, publicly perform, display, or sublicense any such communication in any medium (now in existence or hereinafter developed) and for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and to authorize others to do so. In addition, please be aware that information you disclose in publicly accessible portions of the Website will be available to all users of the Website, so you should be mindful of personal information and other content you may wish to post.

On Stumbleupon.com, it is the same but the right to use user content extends to Third Parties, and to unlimited levels of sublicensees:

3.3 Your Content. By posting any Content on the Services, you hereby grant to us an unrestricted, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, perform, display, create derivative works of, and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution method (now known or later developed) throughout the world. Additionally, by posting any Content on the Services and making your Content available to others (”Third Parties”) via RSS distribution, you hereby grant to all Third Parties an unrestricted, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to copy, display, and distribute such Content in any and all media (now known or later developed) throughout the world. No compensation will be paid with respect to the Content that you submit, upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available through the Services. You should only upload Content to the Services that you are comfortable sharing with others under the terms and conditions set forth herein. Other users of the Service will be able to view any Content you post to the Services, subject to your limited ability to prevent access to your Content by changing your account preferences and settings.

In del.icio.us, users are allowed to dictate how their content may be used, BUT adds that this does not affect del.icio.us’s own right to use the content:

3. User-Posted Content

By posting content, you are granting permission to us and others to access and use it in connection with the Services, the Site and otherwise in connection with our business. You can mark content as private to restrict access and use to those users to whom you explicitly grant access. For publicly accessible content, you can label your compilations with one of several possible licenses. It is important to note that you can only copyright the compilation itself, not the individual links that make up the compilation. Please also note that just because your compilation does not have a license agreement attached to it does not mean that it is public domain. For a compilation to be classified as such, it must be explicitly labeled as belonging to the public domain. Your use of a license in connection with your compilation does not affect del.icio.us’s right to access and use it in connection with the Services, the Site or otherwise in connection with our business.

Digg.com, however, makes more explicit terms, basically similar to those above, but invokes the Creative Commons Public Domain License:

CONTENT SUBMITTED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR INCLUSION ON THE SERVICE

By uploading, submitting or otherwise disclosing or distributing Content for display or inclusion on the Site, you represent and warrant that you own all rights in the Content and you agree that the Content will be subject to the Creative Commons Public Domain License, available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/. For clarity, the foregoing does not apply to the Content on any external sites to which the Services link.

While most of the agreements above resemble a Public Domain License, if the user is even aware of what the TOS contains, I contend that it is not a “dedication for the benefit of the public at large” (which the CC Public Domain License espouses) because the user is dictated to grant the Company the right to grant and authorize sublicenses for the content.

While the above relates to “user content” on these social networking websites, scrutinizing the TOS will bring up even more issues concerning Privacy, Security, and Third-Party Services. And the sophistication of advertising. In fact, the amount of work being done in the industry of advertising to sell you as Facebook or Frienster user to their advertisers is mind-boggling: social ads, deep analytics, behaviour aggregates, viral distribution, “Facebook Social Ads allow your businesses to become part of people’s daily conversation”, “Gather insights on who’s engaging with your presence on Facebook”, “harness the power of the social graph” and “create an authentic social experience.”

And, if the TOSs aren’t unfair enough, ask what are these closed proprietary services really giving back to the community that provides them the free content, the buzz, the target market? Software patents (Friendster), copyright filters (YouTube) and closed proprietary software (almost all except WordPress) that all reinforce a commercialized, commodified, closed and privatized “social network.”

Alternatives:

There are initiatives towards a truly open social network.

See:

People Aggregator (http://www.broadbandmechanics.com/), ELGG (http://elgg.org/index.php), and Drupal (http://groups.drupal.org/social-networking-sites)

And if you can afford broadband and waste hundreds of hours on Friendster and Facebook, surely you can afford to have your own domain and run your own website. And if you’re smart enough to be insulted by these “social networks” (who tell you that you need “a social utility that connects you with the people around you”), then you’d know or learn how to write HTML, upload files to a server, install an opensource blog software or other CMS, and support others who do the same - perhaps it’s the hard way, though not really that hard, besides, you can get support from friends (and that’s what real social networks are about, just as it was in the old computer and Internet days when computer hobbyists, hacks, programmers, enthusiasts helped each other). It is also the more ethical, responsible and educational/intelligent thing to do.

Refs:

On Software Patents
Richard Stallman: The Dangers of Software Patents, May 24th 2004 http://www.ifso.ie/documents/rms-2004-05-24.html

Math You Can’t Use: Patents, Copyright, and Software, Ben Klemens, Brookings Institution Press, 2005. http://www.brookings.edu/press/books/mathyoucantuse.htm

Thanks to the efforts/nitpicking of Dale Clapperton:
Dissecting the Facebook ‘Terms of Use’ http://defendingscoundrels.com/2007/10/dissecting-the-facebook-terms.htm...)

And:
Breaking Open Facebook with Open Source Software http://jeff.newscloud.com/2007/10/30/breaking-open-facebook-with-open-so...