What exactly is Section 8 saying, anyway?
I will spell out here, in layman's terms and line by line, exactly what Section 8 is saying to you, the homesteader as I see it. As a disclaimer I need to state the following (this is "cover your ass language"):
I am not representing myself as a lawyer, nor as anyone qualified to give legal advice. The following interpretation is my opinion based on my personal experience in the realm of contractual documents and should in no way be construed to be the sole and definitive interpretation of the verbiage. My interpretation is at no time to be used in a court of law or in any other legal proceedings and bears no weight as such.
Sorry, but that was necessary.
The original verbiage of Section 8 will be in regular text - bold, my
definitions in italics and my interpretations in underlined italics. If you have any problems reading this please feel free to e-mail me for a printable copy.
8. CONTENT SUBMITTED TO YAHOO
By submitting Content to any Yahoo property, you automatically grant,
Content - something contained within - the subject matter or topic treated - this is the standard definition of the word Content - by being a capitalized term throughout the document it has been established as a legal term holding the definition presented somewhere at the beginning of the document - sorry, I'm not looking at a full copy, so I can't tell you what that is.
Property - something owned
Automatically - I find it interesting that my desk Webster's define automatic as "involuntary" making this "involuntarily" meaning the action happens without your actual control.
Grant - consent to, allow, permit, bestow (how can you involuntarily consent to something?)
The act of putting your subject matter onto a Yahoo service is taken as your consent
or warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted,
Warrant - Now this is a scary legal term that puts you at all sorts of liability. I'll list the full Webster's definition here: 1: to guarantee security or immunity to 2: to declare or maintain positively 3: to assure (a person) of the truth of what is said 4: to guarantee to be as it appears or as it is represented 5: Sanction, authorize 6: to give proof of: ATTEST: Guarantee 7: justify
Now, if that doesn't put hair on your chest nothing will! This lays legal responsibility on you if they use something off your site that you don't own and the real owner gets ticked about it!
Expressly - exact, precise, specific
or you guarantee absolutely that whomever owns that content (be it you or anyone else) has specifically given to
Yahoo the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and
Royalty - a share of a product or profit claimed by the owner for allowing another person to use the property
Perpetual: continuing forever, ceaseless, everlasting
Irrevocable - you can't change your mind and take this away later (sorry dictionary didn't have a definition of this one)
Non-Exclusive - Gee, here we are thrown a bone - the rights they claim are not such that you couldn't allow anyone else to use your content. How nice of them.
Yahoo, completely free, everlasting, you-cant-change-your-mind, shareable
fully sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt,
Sublicensable - My favorite definition of License is "freedom to use irresponsibly" but for our purposes here will just go with this one: a permission granted by authority to engage in an activity. Adding on the SUB means that they can give the rights to use your work to someone else without your permission (because by agreeing to this you've already given it!)
License - well, we've defined that above
Reproduce - to produce again and again
Modify - change, alter
Adapt - to make suitable or fit (as for a new use or different conditions)
rights to give the rights to others, as well as the right for themselves to use, copy eternally, change, alter, or make fit,
publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform
Publish - to produce or release literature, information, musical scores or sometimes recordings or art for sale to the public
Translate - to turn into one's own or another's language
Derivative - to receive or obtain from a source
Distribute - to divide among several or many - to spread out
Perform - carry out, do, do in a set manner
produce for sale to the public, make in another language, create something new based on, hand out to other entities, perform
and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to
Display - present to view
and present to view the Content (all of it or just a piece of it) anywhere in the world and/or
incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now
Incorporate - to make part of another entity to create a whole
Media - a system of communication, a mode of artistic expression
Technology - Ok, I think we all know how to define this one :)
make it part of any other work in any form, mode of communication/expression, or technology now
known or later developed. You acknowledge that Yahoo does not
existing or that is created in the future. You admit that you understand that Yahoo does not
pre-screen Content, but that Yahoo and its designees shall have the
view your content in advance, but that Yahoo and anyone they see fit to give the right to, will have the
right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to refuse, edit,
right (but they will not be required to) based completely on their personal judgement to refuse, change
move or remove any Content that is publicly available via the Service.
move or remove any content that is made accessible to the public through Yahoo's services.
Without limiting the foregoing, Yahoo and its designees shall have the
Without taking away their right to anything they've already said previously in this document, or changing the meaning of it, Yahoo and anyone it sees fit to give the right to, will have the
right to remove any Content that violates the TOS or is otherwise
right to take away any content that violates the terms of service or is in any other way
objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks
not appropriate to their standards. You agree that you must carefully examine and bring upon yourself all risk
associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the
that might happen because of your use of any content, including any faith you have put on the
accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. In this regard,
truthfulness, completeness, or usefulness of the content. In relation to this
you acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content created by
you admit that you understand you can't rely on any content that has been created by
Yahoo or submitted to Yahoo, including without limitation information
Yahoo, or presented to Yahoo, including absolutely every last bit of information
in Yahoo! Message Boards, Yahoo! Clubs, and in all other parts of the
in Yahoo! Message Boards, Yahoo! Clubs, and in any other parts of the services offered by Yahoo.
What a mouthful eh?
