Comments on: I Own My Data, Dammit

By: Aaron Brazell

Aaron Brazell — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:45:10 +0000

Yes? :p

By: tedd

tedd — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:36:50 +0000

hmmm…

By: Aaron Brazell

Aaron Brazell — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:01:48 +0000

Lynn- before you come in here and start challenging me on something you obviously know little about, you should do some more homework. A 404 page does not make my statement false.

1) Try Disqus and ID and see who has the comments.
2) Do your homework on content ownership and liability. Start here then go find more info.

You, I guarantee, are completely wrong.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:01:08 +0000

Well, for a site that has no terms of service, and you the privacy policy page results in a 404 error, I think your claim to “owning” anything is garbage. Usually when a website is going to claim others words as their property it is spelled out in TOS before you are allowed to even post. I own my words, and my thoughts, not you or anyone else. I am liable for them, not you or anyone else.

By: Karoli

Karoli — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:29:48 +0000

On Disqus, whether or not you control the content depends entirely on the user. Anonymous content is entirely within your control, but if they register and post while signed in it’s theirs.

The question of liability then centers on them, rather than you, in my opinion. What does the legal community say about that?

By: Joffi

Joffi — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:20:44 +0000

I would add that your original content is yours, but my comments, you have no claim on ;)

By: Erin, QueenofSpain

Erin, QueenofSpain — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:09:44 +0000

…and here comes Erin to ruin the party…but…

WTF???!!! Are you not the same guy who was screaming (ok, maybe just raising his voice) over how when you put something out there on the web, the content ceases to be yours and you have no control and too damn bad?

And I said – but with all this new tech there will be ways to control/own your content and you laughed at me.

YOU LAUGHED AT ME.

Here is the part where I go:

NEEENER NEEENER NEEEENER and PPPPPPPFFFFFFFFFFFT.

By: Mark Jaquith

Mark Jaquith — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:41:53 +0000

Interesting angle. I’ve been advocating for open formats and “anytime I want to, I can bail” features like full data export and URL redirection. The legal angle is an interesting one. Maybe “absolute data control” is a better term, because services that store your data might very well grant you ownership of that data. You’re looking for ownership and absolute control of that data.

By: Micah Baldwin

Micah Baldwin — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:58:15 +0000

Aaron,

Both Disqus and Intense Debate have begun to have a real discussion around the ownership of comments.

I, for one, am pleased that they both realize the importance of content ownership and are working towards creating best practices around that. for example, Intense Debate and Disqus both allow you to export your comment data.

Its really important that any product that works in conjunction with a publisher like (oh, I dunno, lijit), puts that publisher in a position of comfort, control and true partnership.

By: Aaron Brazell

Aaron Brazell — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:32:12 +0000

That is true but I think the difference is that I don’t provide my own alternative to making video comments so Seesmic is a value add instead of a replacement.

By: Rob Blatt

Rob Blatt — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:25:13 +0000

Stick to your guns on this one, there’s no need to give someone content that belongs to you or your community.

Though you ARE using Seesmic, and that content is owned by them, not you…