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AIM's New Terms Of Service
acaben writes "AOL has posted new terms of service for AIM, that include the right for AOL to use anything and everything you send through AIM in any way they see fit, without informing you. A sample passage: '...by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy.'"
Also, if you and your chat partner are both using Trillian, you have the option of turning on 128-bit encryption.
My userid is prime!
However, I believe it's true that SecureIM only works if both you -and- your chat partner are using Trillian.
My userid is prime!
1. Trillian. SecureIM, but Windows only.
2. SILC. Open encryption standard, many *nix ports.
3. JohnyTech. Windows encryption for a bunch of different IM protocols.
That ought to get you started.
*** formica has quit IRC (connection reset by phear)
In Trillian 3.1 Basic: Open up your Connection Preferences for the AIM connection. Click on the Miscellaneous tab. At the bottom, check the following: "Activate SecureIM capabilities", and "When possible, make a best effort to automatically maintain a SecureIM session with my contacts." HTH.
My userid is prime!
FUD.
Actually, the traffic mostly moves from peer-to-peer. It's not like private messages and files all go through AOL's servers and then get to the other party. That would be a huge amount of traffic to deal with.
To confirm this, all it takes is less than a minute of looking at network traffic logs to see messages and files being transferred directly from one person to another.
This is not a dream, not a dream...we are transmitting from the year 1-9-9-9.
Why aren't you using Jabber instead?
It's Free Software, it's non-evil and there are clients for every platform out there.
You can even use it for cool stuff like IM'ing system alerts to you, as a cheap replacement for SMS on mobile phones (AUD$0.02 vs AUD$0.25) and to publish and subscribe to news feeds.
-- "So, what's the deal with Auntie Gerschwitz et all?"
The following terms and conditions apply to all users who either registered for AIM services or downloaded AIM updates or software on or after February 5, 2004. AIM users who do not register for AIM services or download AIM updates or software on or after February 5, 2004 and are members of the Netscape Network will remain bound by Netscape's terms and conditions. All other AIM users are bound by the aol.com terms and conditions.
I suspect the vast majority of Slashdot users signed up for AIM years ago, if they did at all. This shouldn't affect them.
My userid is prime!
main() has a type!
The snippet from the privacy policy (here) with emphasis from me:
Actually, the new TOS specifically states that it only applies if you:
1) Registered for AIM after February 5, 2005
2) Downloaded AIM updates or software after February 5, 2005
Unless I'm drastically misreading that, that means none of the terms apply to people who've been registered for more than a month or so and use a third party client.
-ShadowRanger
Simple solution: http://silcnet.org/
Regards,
Steve
you've never used grep, have you?
Grepping when you don't have a hard disk because everything is solid state is much, much faster than you might think. Grepping through billions of lines of text for "bomb" is pretty goddamned simple: grep -i "bomb" *.log
Sheer volume means nothing to anybody who uses computing clusters in their corporate strategy; they have what it takes to parse that volume, and then some.
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
This is precisely one of the reasons everyone should start paying attention to the XMPP standard. We shouldn't be trusting a corporate entity and closed standards with what has become a very viable form of internet communication. Just like the standards we use for http, ftp, ssh, and everything else, we all need to start supporting the standards for Instant Messaging too. It's time to get everyone we know off of AIM. And start showing them jabber. And those of us with programming skills need to contribute to the servers and clients to make the better and well known.
Not true...
Apple's iChat A/V and Trillian Pro on the PC are unstoppable together. AIM limits the size of the video on the PC, Trillian Pro doesn't... besides the video quality is really nice.
Can't wait to see skype with video though
Yeah, I use OS X... so sue me.
Was looking again at jabber earlier today... it's come along way, with a solid, well defined, if perhaps slow moving, process. Many features have been fleshed out, including ssl, tls auth, db backing, multi-network bridging (msn, aol, icq, etc), server-to-server networking, group chat, legacy presentation (ie jabber to irc gateways), etc. Much more solid than other IM networks, and much more open.
You are drastically misreading that. As the date on the TOS is "February 5, 2004"
Okay, so a philosopher, a philologist, and a philatelist walk into a bar...
I dunno, but that sounds like typical terms of service for something like Instant Messenger, and doesn't sound very surprising or new at all. Granted, I haven't thoroughly read their ToS before... They're supposedly used so that they can distribute your messages (IMs) without any possibility of "infringement," but who knows?
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger already have the same clause... Microsoft can use anything you send over MSN anytime for anything they want... Just because AOL is now doing it, doesn't exactly make it new...
Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
The systray icon was finally updated with version 1.1.2 recently....full color and everything :)
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
Well, if you wait a few months, I believe Tiger's iChat will support Jabber.
http://www.apple.com/ca/macosx/tiger/ichat.html
Scroll down to the parts about "Your Serve" and "IM Me". While in the first paragraph I indicated, it doesn't mention Jabber by name, it is mentioned by name in the second.
"Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you."
Many financial and energy trading companies do use AIM as a primary means of communication between traders. This is an unfortunate but undeniable fact. I wonder what impact, if any, this may have on potential reuse/sale/dissemination of information AOL might gather this way.
There have been numerous stories here about MS's license on various products. In the end, most of them simply say that the system belongs to MS. That includes not only the software, but anything that is done on the system. i.e. all your base belong to us. AOL just simply moved to a more MS style license because not enough ppl punished MS for their garbage.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Jabber!
I've been using it for over a year now.
HAL 7000, fewer features than the HAL 9000, but just as homicidal!
That comes from the gmail terms of use. What you say in gmail belongs to you. Sure they can parse it and toss in their adds on the side and have to release it under subpoena (next paragraph in the ToS), but they can't publish it or anything like that. It is not, as many people incorrectly interpret, simply a matter of Google promising they won't use your emails illicitly. They have legally bound themselves not too.
I'm sure AOL isn't really interested in what 12 year olds gossip about or finding criminals, but these new terms still place your words in the possession of AOL Time Warner. Focus on this part:
AOL can make money off of what you say or do while using their client and they can cut you off. I know engineers who use AOL to assist with telecommuting. If they did something dumb like mention that "the new ShinyDooDad 2000 is going to replace all of its cams with widgets, fixing all the problems of the 1000," we might see AOL suddenly start a ShinyDooDad subsidiary.
Bottom line: If Google sold an email, they'd get a nifty fine, probably a handsome lawsuit, and a rather sharp slap on the wrist. If AOL sold an instant message, they'd just have to declare the profit on their 1040 or whatever corporations use for taxes
At least they are honest about it, unlike some other services like, say, short messages on cellphones which give you an illusion of privacy. Face it - we are in an era when to have any privacy you have to actively protect it and sometimes it might be even illegal (example - encryption in France).
Then try a better theme. The default GTK theme is ugly, and there's no doubt about that. That's why most Linux distros use a different theme (like Fedora's BlueCurve theme), and even Gnome itself is going to start including a different default theme soon.
A good one for Windows is WIMP. It looks (almost) like every other Windows app on the system. If you're using the Windows XP style, it looks just as chunky, garish, and downright ugly as any other Windows app. If you're using the Classic style, it looks as square, grey and boring as any other Windows app. If you have a better theme, it'll use that too. I don't know how it'd interact with third party skinning programs like Windowblinds, but it should work OK.
"AOL does not read your private online communications when you use any of the communication tools offered as AIM Products. If, however, you use these tools to disclose information about yourself publicly (for example, in chat rooms or online message boards made available by AIM), other online users may obtain access to any information you provide.
Your AIM information, including the contents of your online communications, may be accessed and disclosed in response to legal process (for example, a court order, search warrant or subpoena), or in other circumstances in which AOL has a good faith belief that AIM or AOL are being used for unlawful purposes. AOL may also access or disclose your AIM information when necessary to protect the rights or property of AIM or AOL, or in special cases such as a threat to your safety or that of others."
The content referred to in the Privacy Policy is for posts in AIM forums and message boards and such, and the point of all that crap in the TOS is so that AOL has the legal right to copy and display anything you put in the forum worldwide, for as long as the forum/website exists, and you can't in any way sue them over something you post in the forum. It's NOT saying "we will read your IMs and reproduce and use them however we want". Please mod this up so at least some people read it and stop freaking out and spreading FUD unneccessarily.
-Jay
Yes, posts refers to regular IM usage... from the TOS:
" AIM Products
For purposes of these Terms of Service, the term "AIM Products" shall mean AIM software (whether preinstalled, on a medium or offered by download), AIM services, AIM websites (including, without limitation, AIM.COM and AIMTODAY.COM) and all other software, features, tools, web sites and services provided by or through AIM from America Online, Inc. and its business divisions (e.g., Netscape) (collectively "AOL") and AOL's third-party vendors."
Pretty creepy, if you ask me. It would also seem that 3rd party client users aren't exempt from this since they're still using "AIM services."
Who doesn't like free music?
5-12 MB of RAM is obscene. No string-chunking message protocol needs 5-12 MB of RAM. A fucking browswer shouldn't take that much bloatspace to run.
The dangers of this site have been well explained here, but how many people are going to find it and read enough to understand it? It's just sad that the general population is so completely clueless about the basics of cryptography.
You agree to them when you register your screen name.
face the world with eyes of fire.
Which is why I've always used strong encryption to IM my friends.
...
That's fine if you're trying to protect the content of your IMs.
But the main thing they're interested in at the moment is your address info.
I worked recently on a project that involved software in assorted computers using either email, IM or VM (whichever worked) to people's cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, whatever. It was a medical app, actually. Automatic reminders to doctors and patients, messages from portable health monitors to hospital computers, etc. Useful stuff.
An interesting thing happened with IM. With most sorts of cell phones, for our computers to send an IM required sending email to an email-IM gateway. This seems like a reasonable approach, but we quickly discovered a serious problem: The phones we were using for testing quickly started getting IM spam and telemarketer calls.
When I complained about this, I learned about an interesting gotcha in the phone contracts. Most of them include (heavily promoted) promises that they will never sell their subscribers' info. That sounds nice, until they explain that in our case, the sender wasn't a customer, and they can legally use a non-customer's messages however they like.
So if I or my computer send you an IM, your phone company can legally harvest both of our addresses in their gateway. The message came from a non-customer; your contract is irrelevant. If you reply to me, my ISP (or phone company) can legally harvest your message, because you're not a customer. Both companies can do as they like with the address info without violating any contract, because there was no contract with the sender.
I have in my posession a couple of spam messages inviting me to attend conferences on the commercial uses of harvested IM messages. Yes, they really did have the chutzpa to send me an invitation to learn how to do unto others what they've just done unto me (and some very angry medical folks). I didn't go
It just sounds like AOL has taken this one small step further: Their contract says they can harvest info from messages between customers. This is really the only thing new; they can already do this if the sender isn't a customer.
So when people start chanting "contract law" in this topic, you might remind them that contract law doesn't apply when there's no contract. If they look puzzled as to why you said that, describe the above scenario to them.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
AIM Products For purposes of these Terms of Service, the term "AIM Products" shall mean AIM software (whether preinstalled, on a medium or offered by download), AIM services, AIM websites (including, without limitation, AIM.COM and AIMTODAY.COM) and all other software, features, tools, web sites and services provided by or through AIM from America Online, Inc. and its business divisions (e.g., Netscape) (collectively "AOL") and AOL's third-party vendors.
In this case, Apple is a third party vendor.