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I Break PJ Media's EULA Email Print

By now, most of you have probably heard of the so-called Open Source Media's superlegally restrictive Terms and Conditions agreement. For those who haven't, here's the gist of it; we aren't allowed to quote them, analyze their writings, or satirize them. We may not even be able to link to them. Basically, it attempts to completely override the concept of Fair Use to a ridiculous extent.

So, I have a plan. I plan on breaking that Agreement in as many ways as possible, and as frequently as possible, until Chuck and Roger realize how idiotic it is and change it.

Now, before I begin this endeavor, I'd like to say the following: This effort is being undertaken by me and only me. Neither the webmaster nor anyone else associated with this website in any capacity had any foreknowledge of this effort. Just to get that on the record.

I've already broken the agreement in at least two ways: by sending an article to several friends and by making two hard copies (which, believe it or not, is not allowed under their EULA). Now, I shall add a third breach by copying the text to this website (and just to reiterate: this scheme is mine - none of the other writers had any previous knowledge of this flagrant breach of the agreement). Ahem:

Jeff Goldstein, Protein Wisdom
My cab pulled up outside the W a little before 9PM New York Time, and after checking in and dropping my suitcase on the bed, I immediately made my way to the hotel bar, where I found Tim Blair, Roger Simon, and Ed Driscoll bunched around a small table near the restrooms. Ed and Roger were nursing Gibsons, while Tim (who at 5'1" is much shorter than I thought he'd be) was drinking what looked to be IPA out of a pilsner glass inscribed with the legend, "Bloggers Do It In Their Pajamas." "Heh, cool," I said, motioning to Tim's glass. "You have those made up for the launch?" "What do you think, genius?" Blair asked, not looking up. "I maybe had it printed up special for myself?" Ed, who I'd met once before at a Rocky Mountain Blogger bash, threw me a glance that said, "skip it, he's Australian," before sliding me a chair. "Take a seat. How was your flight?" "Fine, nice," I said, sitting down and looking around for the waitress. I hadn't had anything to drink on the plane and was really craving a Guinness. "So"--this from my left, where Roger Simon, sans his trademark fedora, sat smiling and bleary-eyed, holding aloft a half-empty Gibson glass as if to make a toast. "Protein wisdom is in the hizzouse, as they say! Welcome! Or as my friend Bill Bixby once said to a French prostitute (god rest his soul), 'bonjour, you plump little tart!'"...
"Bullshit," Blair hissed. "The Hulk never said any such thing. Any such thing. You fibbing, wizened bastard."
"Absolutely he did," Simon plucked a cocktail onion from his drink with his fingers. "Paris, 1979. Had her eating out of the palm of his hand, too. Literally. Cake and a little salted herring, I think. Christ, do I ever miss him."....

Here's the Agreement, with the violated sections in bold:

2. Our Site and all its contents, which includes, but is not limited to, text, graphics, photographs, logos, video and audio content, is protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under the copyright laws of the United States and other countries. All individual components of Our Site, including, without limitation, articles, content and other elements comprising Our Site are also copyrighted works. Additionally all of the weblogs linked to by us are likewise protected. You must abide by all additional copyright notices or restrictions contained on this site and our linked weblogs.

3. You may not reproduce, distribute, copy, publish, enter into any database, display, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in any way exploit any part of this site. The only exceptions to this are that you may download material from Our Site for your own personal use, provided such download is limited to making one machine readable copy and/or one print copy that limited to occasional articles of personal interest only. No other use of the content of Our Site is permitted. Please contact our Sales Department if you wish to have rights other than those stated above.

Following the posting of this totally illegal post, I will be sending a message to the owners of OSM informing them of my personal contract violations. I shall keep you apprised of the situation.


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