PSA: Changes to YOUR content (FIXED)

UPDATE: Ched promptly reverted this! Uploading data to Torn once again only grants rights to Chedburn Networks Limited.

Hey, folks.

Torn recently posted the updated Terms of Use of the site and I just wanted to draw attention to the following change:

[image: i.imgur.com]

Previously, we were only required to grant rights of our content to Chedburn Networks Limited. This is why you had the power to remove your content and prohibit anyone from reuploading it (see Hank's, Nash's and BraveKath's guides removal debacle).

However, as of the new Terms of Use, we're all granting perpetual rights to both Chedburn Networks Limited as well as other users of their service -- aka every Torn player. This means people are now allowed to repost and redistribute your content freely.

Whether you think this is a good or a bad change, it's worth knowing it happened.

Take care.

This is similar to what MySpace did when Rupert Murdoch bought the site. Everyone's posted content: music, videos, etc. was free for Murdoch's companies to use... MySpace tanked so it was irrelevant, but this policy has been implemented before. Just be careful what you post on here.

Thanks for highlighting this!

Thank you for posting this. I'd have probably never have known otherwise.

I only post worthless crap anyway so no problem for me.

I do believe you!

However, it is standard legal stuff, and now any Torn user can legally use our submissions in third-party sites. For instance, even if staff continues to remove reposted guides, people are now allowed to reproduce them elsewhere without our written permission.

It isn't the case that I thought Torn's procedures would change. But we're giving users extra, off-Torn, rights.

Pinned response?

That's a pretty cool feature that I've never seen used... R+ for that.

I'm not upset about my shitty drawings being reused by all and anyone who wants to use them.

Pinned response is a brand new feature today... it was in an announcement.

Nice, thanks!

I think this is a bad change. Why would we grant a license to other Torn users to use our uploaded pictures? How does granting that license protect Torn?

Can the definition of licensed content be narrowed so that it doesn't include personal images? I mean, if someone puts their picture up on their profile, can any other user now use that picture to advertise any product they feel like?

Ched, you are probably paying your solicitors a lot of money, do not accept standard legal work. They need to tailor their legal work to your company.

I don't like this very much either...

One of the biggest (probably unintended) issues with this I have is the yearly Mr. and Mrs. Torn competition. Now any photo of your your real life person is legally available for anyone to use, unsure of how this works if they are profiting from the image. Always a concern and I always make sure to check the box NOT releasing my images whenever this comes up.



Not sure if anyone's ever heard the example of having their picture be used on the other side of the world for advertising a product they want no attachment to (herpes creme, child-abuse help, erotic services, etc...) and people submit interesting and revealing pictures for that competition.

I know some are hesitant to upload a real picture anywhere on Torn, so these would be more cause for concern, I know this is standard legal documents and with the amount of content uploaded it is necessary, but just by the way of the word it raised this conern.

This begs the question, in accordance with the highlighted yellow paragraph in the original post:

In the case of pictures which I upload, for example, to imgur.com, and simply link it here on Torn's forums.... that content is not being hosted on Torn's servers, so the license to use my copyrighted material as explained does not apply... Instead, whatever terms Imgur has me submit to in order to upload the content to their servers applies.

This sound about right?

Granted, in order to enter into Mr/Mrs Torn, I believe you've got to upload that image to Torn's servers...

You should be wary of posting anything on the internet which you dont want the whole world to see. If you read the terms and conditions of any sites you use then you will see you are basically handing over your stuff to them.

This is only a problem if you are posting stuff which you dont want shared around.

There are a lot of people who dont think too much on the internet, some of the stuff you see on facebook is pretty gormless.

I was going to post my eBook, plans for a time travel machine, and designs for a faster-than-light (FTL) drive in the Torn forums, but this post saved me from that mistake. Thanks a bunch Mauk!

I'm so sorry! I guess this issue's only relevant to players who put at least a tiny bit of effort into their posts. :(

8D

Has a very good point.