SAY WHAT???

"Q: I am thinking about starting a blog for profit on a shoestring budget. I know that Google’s Blogger service is free, but I wonder how using it affects my intellectual property. Would I retain full ownership of what I write on Blogger, both financially and intellectually?

Perkins Cashio, Maringouin, La.

A: Google says yes, but I don’t think it’s that clear-cut. Google gives contradictory statements about intellectual property in its terms of service for Blogger and its other services. As a result, you may not have control over how your words are altered or used.

Google’s terms of service (see tinyurl.com/csfcnam) say, “You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.”

While that sounds good, Google’s terms of service also say, “When you upload or otherwise submit content to our services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.”

So it seems Blogger can use your material any way it wants without consulting you."

Written by Steve J. Alexander of the Star Tribune, published September 10, 2013 at http://www.startribune.com/business/223198581.html

What should I do?
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