Re: <nettime> Rhizome.org Member Agreement

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

On Fri, Nov 09, 2001 at 11:38:49PM +0100, Florian Cramer 
forwarded a Rhizome.org revised membership agreement:

> You grant Rhizome.org a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free,
> perpetual license to: (i) store Your Content on Rhizome.org's servers;
> (ii) distribute Your Content on the Rhizome.org web site and through
> email lists; and (iii) reproduce, publish, perform, display, adapt,
> distribute or otherwise make available Your Content in web sites, books,
> CD-ROMs or any other form or medium whatsoever, whether now known or as
> may hereafter be developed.

That is, of course, breathtakingly broad, and far more than what's
required to host or distribute stuff online. Yahoo tried just this,
and backed down (its Geocities site) after public outcry.

Rhizome seems to let you opt-out of part of this clause, but it's
not clear to me how much wiggle room you have, or how many people will
read the fine print and choose to opt-out.

As a photographer and writer myself, I'd never agree to that contract
above -- that's why I use a commercial web hosting service that I have
to pay for, but doesn't include such harsh "perpetual license" terms.

-Declan

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