Uwe Zimmermann wrote:
> 
> Hej Chris, hey all!
> 
> I too have been and are a member of GeoCities for quite a while now and
> I agree to Chris opinion that the web-hosting terms of service are not
> as dangerous as it may seem.
> I can quite well understand that Yahoo and all the other providers of
> web space out there have to insure themselves for not being sued for
> copyright forgery especially when they are hosted in a country like the
> USA where every legal procedure easily is bound to millions of dollars.
> The internet is still quite a new medium and thus are its rights and
> laws. However if you have a look at the more established media like
> print and even broadcast - whenever you want to publish something it's a
> normal procedure that you transfer your copyright to the publisher or
> broadcasting station. If e.g. you write a book and it's then published
> by a company, the copyright of the book is no longer in your hands but
> in the hands of the publisher (just open any book you can grab right now
> and have a look on the very first pages). OK you might say: "I get payed
> for writing the book, so they can get the rights..." but you don't get
> payed by Yahoo/Geocities... That's right, but the readers of your web
> page don't have to pay either - they would have to buy a book ...
> 
> I can live with the terms I agreed to at Yahoo and I'm not planning to
> move to another service - but of course that's a decision that everyone
> has to make by him/herself.
> 
> Uwe.

   Let's look at it from a different perspective. Let's say I take 1
year making the most beautiful 3d raytraced image ever produced by
anyone. I then decide to share the fruits of my labor with the world
and then find it two weeks later as the official splash screen for
Yahoo/Geocities making a fortune for them and not a penny goes to me.
I will drag their sorry butts into every court in the land from city
to federal using any and every unscrupulous lawyer I can find who
want's to make a name for himself and I won't stop until I have
satisfaction.
  There are limits to responsible business and they simply cannot self
proclaim themselves to be sharks and expect everyone to be happy being
their next meal. Obviously only a fool would put work of such value on
a site where grand theft like this could happen and I for one would not
even consider doing so.

 I see this policy of theirs not only restrictive but socially and morally
unconscionable.

-- 
Ken Tyler

mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net

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