Abstract
Vast quantities of user content get uploaded online every single minute: pictures, videos, status updates, blog posts – they are the face of today’s Internet. While a lot of this content is entitled to receive copyright protection under national laws, once uploaded, it is also subject to licensing clauses found in Terms of Service agreements. These clauses establish how platform providers can use the submitted content, and in many cases, language of these clauses is broad and ambiguous, to the point where users are left uncertain about who can use their content, in which ways, and for how long. This chapter argues that contractual ambiguity negatively affects users and platform providers alike. It examines the potential clashes between licensing clauses and privacy policies, deeming it necessary to ensure that in the case of conflict between the two, it is the privacy policy that should prevail. The chapter warns against the potential of invasive licenses to erode trust between users and platform providers, endangering content sharing which is the core of today’s participative Web.
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Stone observes that “despite the reference in Article 9(1) to a country’s public interests, and to its political, social or economic organisation, there is no reason to doubt that Article 9(2) can be applied to mandatory rules of the lex fori which are designed to protect weaker parties, such as small businesses when transacting with large or medium-sized businesses.” Id.
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Acknowledgements
Author wishes to thank professors Ole-Andreas Rognstad and Giuditta Cordero-Moss of the University of Oslo for their valuable guidance and support in the writing of his doctoral thesis. This chapter certainly benefited from their continuous feedback and kind encouragement. In addition, this chapter builds on the ideas developed while the author was a visiting scholar at The George Washington University School of Law. He therefore wishes to extend his warm thanks to its faculty, and particularly professors Susan Karamanian and Daniel J. Solove, whose feedback was deeply appreciated.
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Novović, M. (2017). User-Generated Content: How Broad Licensing Terms Threaten the Web. In: Taddeo, M., Floridi, L. (eds) The Responsibilities of Online Service Providers. Law, Governance and Technology Series, vol 31. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47852-4_11
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