http://designeq.buzznet.com/user/journal/ en-us http://designeq.buzznet.com/user/journal/3293311/
In June a new Terms of Use notice was posted. I was told that a message about this new ToU was sent to all members but I never received it. It was only by accident that I happened on it two months ago. What I saw appalled me. I will repost the pertinent part below, but in essence, what it says is that anything that you post on Buzznet is theirs to use in any way they see fit. They can sell it, change it, use it for any purpose and you grant them complete rights to do this. In fact, you even agree to help them with your time and by signing documents, to protect "their" right to your work.

The following is the important part of the Terms of Use you implicitly agree to when you post anything on Buzznet (the emphasis is mine):

 "User Content. You agree that any User Content you upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available via the Buzznet Service is non-confidential. Buzznet does not claim ownership rights in your User Content. However, by uploading, posting, emailing, transmitting or otherwise making available your User Content via the Buzznet Service you hereby grant Buzznet a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, perpetual and irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works based on, perform, display, publish, distribute, transmit, broadcast and otherwise exploit such User Content in any form, medium or technology now known or later developed, including without limitation on the Site and third party websites, for commercial or non-commercial use. You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents and permissions to grant the foregoing licenses to Buzznet. Buzznet will own all right, title and interest in and to all derivative works and compilations of User Content that are created by Buzznet, including all worldwide intellectual property rights therein. You agree to execute and deliver such documents and provide all assistance reasonably requested by Buzznet to give to Buzznet the full benefit of the rights granted to Buzznet by you. The submission of any materials to Buzznet irrevocably waives any and all "moral rights" in such materials, including the rights of paternity and integrity. Our Community Standards Policy also contains important reminders regarding our policies regarding your submission of User Content."

While Buzznet does not "claim ownership rights in your User Content" for all intent and purpose, the only aspect of not having complete ownership of our rights is that they can't prohibit us from distributing or displaying our own content elsewhere. Other than that, however, they appear to effectively have complete ownership of our content and can do whatever they please with it, including sub-licensing the rights to someone else, using it anywhere and in any form for profit without owing us any compensation for its use, notifying us of said usage or even acknowledging using it elsewhere. Plus, we are obligated to help Buzznet protect its rights to our property by executing documents and providing assistance if required.

When I saw this, I immediately stopped posting to Buzznet and notified PanasonicYouth (Mark Oshiro), who is the Community Manager at Buzznet. He assured me that, even though he had received other letters of concern, the intent of this section was benign. He was going to speak with upper management and with the Buzznet lawyers about having this changed. I decided to wait and give Buzznet the benefit of the doubt. After a month with no word, I contacted him again. He told me he was forwarding my letter directly to the Buzznet Chief of Operations. After another month and a half I contacted him again. He again contacted upper management and told me today that they don't have any plans on changing the Terms of Use.

I'm not trying to say that Buzznet has evil intent with your content. However, they do have the legal right to do anything they want with it. As has been sadly seen with many corporations and agreements such as this, their intent now may not be their intent a year from now.

As a result of the current ToU and of Buzznet's refusal to modify it, I am leaving Buzznet. I have already begun uploading my photos elsewhere and will begin removing my photos from this site. I realize that I am just one concerned member, not even a particularly popular one, however, I urge you to post with caution, understanding that you are effectively giving Buzznet complete and full rights to anything you post. There are other photo sites with Terms of Use that don't wield such draconian abuse of your copyright, so it is possible to write these terms in a way that protects your content. I would encourage you to continue to insist that Buzznet change these Terms of Use in such a manner for your own protection. Please share this notice with any members you feel would benefit from knowing about this.

I want to thank every Buzznet member who has shared their photos and comments with me. You have enriched my life immeasurably with your vision and generous nature and it has been my pleasure to have gotten to know some of you.]]> copyright ownership sub-licensing Buzznet designeq 2008-10-30T14:53:00Z