Just in case anyone got the idea that I’ve turned into some left-wing hippie because of my previous post, well, I do support McCain too. Of all the right-wing nutjobs, he seems to be the only one who has his wits about him. So…

Fuck Shillary! Obama all the way!

Another account canceled. Suck it, “Tom”!

Three simple words:

I EXPERIENCED THEM

(tickets courtesy of Kevin Wall/Brad Barrish/Betty Morin at Control Room)

Full set of photos from my cameraphone

eCards. NEVER EVER FUCKING SEND ME ONE!

I don’t open them because I don’t want to see some cheesy cheap-ass clipart dancing to some annoying MIDI music. Write me a note and email it. It’s more personal. Or just don’t do anything.

Finally closed my account. Good fucking riddance!

So you love Facebook/MySpace/Friendster/WhateverTheHell. You’re cataloging your life there. You upload photos, write captions, write witty messages on everyone’s pages, share clipart (seriously??!!), poke each other, thank others for the add, etc. Well, guess what… you are all suckers. Here’s why.

When was the last time you read their Terms of Service? You know, that little link in 6 point text at the bottom. Here, to make your life easier, I’m linking to the Terms of the popular sites:

Facebook: Terms of Use
MySpace: Terms and Conditions
YouTube: Terms of Use

What am I drawing your attention to and why am I calling you suckers? If you read those nice legally worded pages, you’ll often find that anything you upload/say/share becomes the property of the site that it’s on and they can do whatever the hell they want with it- they own the rights to it all! So, those lovely headshots, those wild drunken photos, super cute photos of your baby/nephew/niece/dog, that poem dedicated to the Starbucks barista… that’s ALL their property. Sure, they say that once you delete it that the agreement expires, but they again cover their butts by saying that it might exist in a backup. So, deleting isn’t permanent. Still don’t believe me. Here, a few snippings (and any emphases will be mine):

Facebook

§ User Content Posted on the Site
¶ 2 When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

MySpace

§ 6. Proprietary Rights in Content on MySpace.com.
¶ 2 MySpace.com does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, “Content”) that you post to the MySpace Services. After posting your Content to the MySpace Services, you continue to retain all ownership rights in such Content, and you continue to have the right to use your Content in any way you choose. By displaying or publishing (”posting”) any Content on or through the MySpace Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com a limited license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content solely on and through the MySpace Services.

YouTube

§ 6. Your User Submissions and Conduct
¶ C. For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube’s (and its successors’ and affiliates’) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the YouTube Website (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the YouTube Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Website, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such User Submissions as permitted through the functionality of the Website and under these Terms of Service. The above licenses granted by you in User Videos terminate within a commercially reasonable time after you remove or delete your User Videos from the YouTube Service. You understand and agree, however, that YouTube may retain, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of User Submissions that have been removed or deleted. The above licenses granted by you in User Comments are perpetual and irrevocable.

So, there you have it. Fun eh?

That’s why you will never find photos, videos, or anything worthwhile by me on any of these sites. Sorry, but I value my works and I’m not about to piss the rights away to some assclown in Silicon Valley. Sure the sites have a purpose- to waste my time by letting me know that someone is “smelling like roses after a shower”- and that’s all well and good but does it have a point/purpose beyond that? People at Fox seem to believe so (by paying $580mn for MySpace) and people at Google seem to believe so too (by paying $1.65bn for YouTube) and apparently people at Microsoft want to believe too (based on speculation that they’ll invest $300-$500mn for 10% of Facebook).

I say no.

A friend used the most priceless words over IM to describe someone:

Fucking Skeletor.

I’m dying!

The crew at RPA launched an all-new Honda Automobiles site this past week. What a beast of an effort.