The rationale is that owning a 'friendslist' and an 'addressbook' are two entirely different things.
In spirit: If you are entering in the addressbook, it is your content. If you are favoriting someone, or incorporating a link to their content, it wasn't yours to begin with - its just an action, no data is uploaded.
In practice: Most of kinds of data we're talking about aren't copyrightable. They're just collections of data. Some of them are curated lists that would fall under copyrightable information, but others are just raw data.
Social Media Standards - Privacy & TOS- Initial Thoughts
The Problem
TOS and privacy policies are insane.
Confusion
Pointlessness
The Solution
Social Media Standards
Dual Model for Flexibility
Layer 1 - A La Carte (Discouraged)
Layer 2 - Iconic (Encouraged)
Enforcement
Two contracts exist through this system
Actual License or Guarantee ?
Continuing debate
Should the usage of icons constitute an actual usage of the license, or a guarantee to meet the qualifications for the icon/license.
Actual Usage
Simpler to manage, though most corporations will need additional terms of service to handle their needs, Displaying the SMS icons means using the corresponding SMS contract verbatim.
Guarantee
Harder to manage, but allows users to view long EULAs as with an iconic 'cliff notes'. This allows corporations more freedom in customizing their uses. Displaying the SMS icons means guaranteeing the corporate contract meets the qualifications / compatibility of the SMS contract.
Content vs Activity
Content and Activity have been separated
Content
Content is entering in text or saying "I am friends with 'PersonA@Email.com'".
Activity
Activity is the button/relation that says "uid2 is friends with uid3 on this system". ie: click-to-define friendships, favoriting, music tracking.
Summary
The rationale is that owning a 'friendslist' and an 'addressbook' are two entirely different things.
In spirit: If you are entering in the addressbook, it is your content. If you are favoriting someone, or incorporating a link to their content, it wasn't yours to begin with - its just an action, no data is uploaded.
In practice: Most of kinds of data we're talking about aren't copyrightable. They're just collections of data. Some of them are curated lists that would fall under copyrightable information, but others are just raw data.
Goals
Clear Licensing & Implementation
Flickr's use of CC is a shining example of clear and simple licensing.
Fairness to Users
MySpace is a great example of privacy fairness: Closing an account kills postings / history. Facebook claims too much ownership over entered data.
Fairness to Community
Replies are meaningless on bulletin boards, or sites like Twitter if the original posting disappears. Data ownership/licensing/use must take that into account.
Fairness to Company
In order to have standards adopted, we need companies to join in. If policies are too lax, no one will embrace them.
The Spec
Working
Terms of Service : Data Portability
Access-Content
Access-Activity
Same options as Access-Content
Privacy Policy
Personal Information
Aggregate/Anonymous Information
Content Rights - Ownership & Licensing
The content I enter is...
The activity I enter / the network moderates is...
Content Rights - Ownership & Licensing In practice ( examples of above )
When I stop using this service
Content Rights - Portability, Distribution & Sharing
My content can be viewable / made portable
Third Party APIs may access/index my content
Recommended Configurations
Gazelle
A sample of the the selected Privacy and TOS points designed to be flexible for both users and networks
Access-Content
Access-Activity
Personal Information
Aggregate/Anonymous
Content Rights - Ownership & Licensing
The activity I enter is...
When I stop using this service
My content can be viewable / made portable
Third Party APIs may access/index my content
Copyright & Licensing
Copyright 2008 Jonathan Vanasco
This essay is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
SPECIAL THANKS to Toby Boudreaux @ The Barbarian Group. Toby constantly belittled the idea of the striped licensing as it would cause extreme confusoion throug too many permutations, mandating simple iconic options that users will remember, and advances won't be lost on through needless customization.
This Document was authored in reStructuredText