[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> Rhizome.org Member Agreement

["Mark Dery" <markdery@mindspring.com>]

Agree with Declan. The first part of the clause---the request that Rhizome
be able to archive your contributions to its collective work in
perpetuity---is standard boilerplate for websites, and harmless enough. It's
the last part---"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"---with its (at least theoretical) potential for
generating revenue for Rhizome from the sale of someone else's intellectual
property that seems grabby---not to mention weirdly hegemonic, in the good
old _New York Times_-ian sense, for a site that wraps itself in the mantle
of Mister Destratification, Gilles Deleuze.

M. Dery

----- Original Message -----
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: Nettime <nettime-l@bbs.thing.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 2:49 PM
Subject: Re: <nettime> Rhizome.org Member Agreement


> 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
>
> #  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
> #  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> #  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
> #  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
> #  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net

_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold