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A degree of fuss shows up, not surprisingly, as LJ updates its terms of service with new language [specifically, Russian(!)]. As I observed last time around, I am not inclined to panic unduly about that in itself, although I admit to a degree of startlement at having to agree to be bound by an agreement in a language I don't understand and can't read.
However, one observer points out a clause that makes my writer-persona's eyebrows go up:
If User participates in any rankings or if User’s Content is used in any editorial projects of the Service, User provides to the Administration an additional authorisation to modify, shorten and amend his/her Content, to add images, a preamble, comments or any clarifications to his/her Content while using it, and in certain cases based on the Service functions, an authorisation to use User’s Content anonymously.
Essentially, their observation (which I think is valid) is that this amounts to a license not just to re-use anything one has posted to one's LJ account, but to rewrite and alter it as they see fit without permission or credit to the original writer -- including fanfic, for instance. Now, ToS agreements often include a non-exclusive license to republish content, but the rewrite-and-modify aspects of the language are rather more sweeping than I've seen in most ToS language...and also, this is written under Russian law, and I wouldn't want to bet on Russian copyright protection being as robust as it is in the US and UK, for instance.
I would very much like to see the OTW legal team comment on this provision. In the interval -- on one hand, I'm not leaving LJ *yet*, and I don't intend to delete anything I've posted to LJ as yet (I don't think it's likely that the Russian Overlords will reach backward into LJ's archives for drabbles). But I do not think that, under the new ToS, I'm going to be willing to post or crosspost new fanfic on the LiveJournal side, and I would encourage others to think carefully before doing so. (Holmestice participants, I am definitely looking at you!)
However, one observer points out a clause that makes my writer-persona's eyebrows go up:
If User participates in any rankings or if User’s Content is used in any editorial projects of the Service, User provides to the Administration an additional authorisation to modify, shorten and amend his/her Content, to add images, a preamble, comments or any clarifications to his/her Content while using it, and in certain cases based on the Service functions, an authorisation to use User’s Content anonymously.
Essentially, their observation (which I think is valid) is that this amounts to a license not just to re-use anything one has posted to one's LJ account, but to rewrite and alter it as they see fit without permission or credit to the original writer -- including fanfic, for instance. Now, ToS agreements often include a non-exclusive license to republish content, but the rewrite-and-modify aspects of the language are rather more sweeping than I've seen in most ToS language...and also, this is written under Russian law, and I wouldn't want to bet on Russian copyright protection being as robust as it is in the US and UK, for instance.
I would very much like to see the OTW legal team comment on this provision. In the interval -- on one hand, I'm not leaving LJ *yet*, and I don't intend to delete anything I've posted to LJ as yet (I don't think it's likely that the Russian Overlords will reach backward into LJ's archives for drabbles). But I do not think that, under the new ToS, I'm going to be willing to post or crosspost new fanfic on the LiveJournal side, and I would encourage others to think carefully before doing so. (Holmestice participants, I am definitely looking at you!)
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