[MG] Google Maps lock-in

[conseo]

Hi,

having discussed with Mike about the usage of Google services in Crossforum, I 
have had a look at the terms of usage directly linked on the Google mapper on 
Crossforum:

http://www.google.com/intl/de-DE_US/help/terms_maps.html

...
3. Appropriate Conduct; Compliance with Law and Google Policies.  You agree 
that you are responsible for your own conduct and content  while using the 
Products, and for any consequences thereof. You agree to  use the Products 
only for purposes that are legal, proper and in  accordance with the Terms and 
any applicable policies or guidelines  Google may make available. By way of 
example, and not as a limitation,  you agree that when using the Products or 
the Content, you will not:
(a) defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the  legal 
rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others;
(b) upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any 
inappropriate, defamatory, obscene, or unlawful content;
(c) upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available any content that  
infringes any patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret or other  proprietary 
right of any party, unless you are the owner of the rights,  or have the 
permission of the owner or other legal justification to use  such content;
(d) upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available messages  that 
promote pyramid schemes, chain letters, or disruptive commercial  messages or 
advertisements;
(e) upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any other  
content, message, or communication prohibited by applicable law, the  Terms or 
any applicable Product policies or guidelines;
(f) download any file posted by another that you know, or reasonably should 
know, cannot be legally distributed in such manner;
(g) impersonate another person or entity, or falsify or delete any  author 
attributions or proprietary designations or labels of the origin  or source of 
Content, software or other material;
(h) restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Products or 
Google services;
(i) interfere with or disrupt Google services or servers or networks  
connected to Google services, or disobey any requirements, procedures,  
policies or regulations of networks connected to Google services;
(j) use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other  device 
to retrieve or index any portion of the Google services or  Content, or 
collect information about users for any unauthorized  purpose;
(k) submit content that falsely expresses or implies that such content is 
sponsored or endorsed by Google;
(l) create user accounts by automated means or under false or fraudulent 
pretenses;
(m) promote or provide instructional information about illegal activities;
(n) promote physical harm or injury against any group or individual; or
(o) transmit any viruses, worms, defects, Trojan horses, or any items of a 
destructive nature.
...
5. Additional Terms for Google Earth.
(a) Export Restrictions. The Google Earth software is subject to United  
States export controls. By using the Google Earth software, you agree to  use 
the software only for purposes that are legal, proper and in  accordance with 
these Terms. Specifically, you agree to comply with all  applicable export and 
reexport control laws and regulations, including  the Export Administration 
Regulations ("EAR")  maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and trade 
and economic  sanctions maintained by the Treasury Department's Office of 
Foreign  Assets Control.

This locks us seriously in and makes us more than vulnarable to legal attacks 
or restricting the service in a situation of conflict. There is no way to 
ensure that we cannot be attacked by that broad terms when we provide an 
international service (Crossforum).

I propose that we avoid using proprietary web services for our infrastructure 
completely and make them opt-in if(!) there is no similar free replacement. 
This also ensures that we can bend our solutions to our liking later-on by 
hacking upstream. Single vote server projects embedded in the network of 
course can still decide on their own, but we don't need it in Crossforum or 
any of the common network infrastructure imo.

What do you think? Do you want to have Google services available and if so for 
which concrete use cases?

conseo



Originally posted to the mailing list of the Metagovernment Project:
http://metagovernment.org/mailman/listinfo/start_metagovernment.org