the-hold.com |
if you have Yahoo or Geocities free websites!
http://come.to/boycottyahoo ---BEGIN QUOTE--- During June of 1999, the Terms of Service at all Yahoo properties (such as GeoCities) were changed to say the following: 8. CONTENT SUBMITTED TO YAHOO By submitting Content to any Yahoo property, you automatically grant, or warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted, Yahoo the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. You acknowledge that Yahoo does not pre-screen Content, but that Yahoo and its designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to refuse, edit, move or remove any Content that is publicly available via the Service. Without limiting the foregoing, Yahoo and its designees shall have the right to remove any Content that violates the TOS or is otherwise objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. In this regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content created by Yahoo or submitted to Yahoo, including without limitation information in Yahoo! Message Boards, Yahoo! Clubs, and in all other parts of the Service. (This is a direct quote from the Terms of Service page which you can find at: Yahoo! Terms of Service) In short, any content you have on GeoCities or any other of Yahoo's properties is theirs to use, ROYALTY-FREE, forever. Any images that you've made, any of your own copyrighted material you've made available, any pictures you've published, etc. belongs to them and they can do whatever they want with it, forever, in any medium "or technology now known or later developed." I bet you weren't aware that any work you've produced and shown to others via your GeoCities site now "belongs" to you AND Yahoo. Further, if you read closely you see that they also gave themselves the "fully sublicensable right and license to use" so they can take your property, sell it to others (giving you nothing), or even license it to your competitor AND NOT PAY YOU A DIME! What's worse, you can't even take your content off of GeoCities WITHOUT AGREEING TO THESE TERMS! If you're there already, they've got your material now, lock, stock and barrel! It is time to show these corporate clowns that there is a large, diverse internet outside of their "properties" and they can shove their various services into whichever oriface they may fit, now or in the future! Stop using Yahoo. Boycott them, and all of their properties. This includes Yahoo.com, GeoCities.com and Broadcast.com. Don't buy products from merchants at shopping.Yahoo.com and let them know why! Let Yahoo know that you won't tolerate this! Email copyright@yahoo-inc.com and demand that they let you remove your content AND demand that they remove it from their databases AND demand that they won't use it without your express consent. Move your site to one of GeoCities' competitors (see list at left). Link to this page from your site (your new site, if you're moving from GeoCities) and let your visitors know that this issue is important to you as a webmaster, even if you don't use GeoCities yourself! If you're a user and you use a site which is located at GeoCities, let the owner of that site know that he or she has just signed over his or her entire work to these goons and they should leave the service at once! If you are a graphics professional, design logos which don't infringe on Yahoo's copyrights but will give viewers the message that they are under boycott (think of the ribbon campaign to defeat the CDA last year). If you are a reporter, or know one, or know how to get in touch with one, grab their ear and let them know this is going on. Most of all, get up and TAKE ACTION. Yahoo and their "properties" don't make any money if you don't use their services, so don't! Tell your friends and family, point them here so they can inform themselves! ---END QUOTE---
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