Google+ TOS

[smcilree]

I am one of the lucky 20 million (today's latest estimate) who have managed to score an invite to join Google+. As a photographer, one of the first things I do when contemplating how I will use a new Internet social service is to evaluate its Terms of Service as regards intellectual property rights. I do wish section 11 was just a bit clearer, closer to everyday English rather than legalese, so I Googled to find what others had to say about it.

Many of you may have read Scott Bourne's blog regarding the Google+ TOS and been scared off, as was I. However, never one to settle for a single source, I dug a little deeper and found this reference to that posting. The fact that Bourne chose to cherry pick his quotation of the TOS, makes him lose all credibility in my eyes.

The latter article, has a good link that further clarifies the issue. This is a thoughtful piece by professional landscape photographer James M. Goldstein. In it he discusses his own thought process in evaluating TOSs of social media sites and in particular Google+. He does add the caveat, while this is how he arrived at a decision to use Google+ he is not an attorney.

However, at the bottom of Goldstein's article, there is a link to another one that is written by an attorney. She says her evaluation of the Google+ TOS leads her to the conclusion that although "clarification would be nice, but they're not panic-worthy".

I know there has been some discussion already of the new Google+ service, but it didn't touch on this issue. I would like to see what others think about sharing their photos on Google+ as well as other social media sites.

gplus.to/smcilree

[i speak in math]

Its been discussed here already but in short...

[smcilree]

Originally Posted by i speak in math

Its been discussed here already but in short...

Thanks, I'm sure your graphic will be welcome by those with limited attention spans. However, unless I, as well as the forum search function, really missed something, the only previous discussion of Google+ was its impact on existing Picasca accounts. I really would like to see some thoughtful discourse on what other photographers think of the Google+ TOS.

Here is another link, from a professional photographer, which I add to the hoped for discussion.

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by smcilree

Thanks, I'm sure your graphic will be welcome by those with limited attention spans.

Or those who value brevity.

[UlpilotSC]

Originally Posted by Rentham

Or those who value brevity.

Second! I like when someone condenses stuff so I don't have to read four other articles.
Of course, I don't really care, yet.
Facebook is enough for me. I'll probably join google+ in three years when Facebook takes a dump like myspace before it. I've been doing more of the blog thing any way, but since 95% of my blog traffic comes from Facebook, I have to keep using it.