deviantART, Google, etc’s TOS

perictione:

meeedeee:

hanzotitty:

Everyone is panicking over TOS-es right now as they find a new home as Tumblr gets flushed down the toilet. I don’t like those random TOS breakdowns because the analysis is always wrong. 

Anyway this is what people pay me to do and I will now do it for $0 because I’m tired of everyone spreading misinformation. This post is not a substitute for legal advice etc. Reblogs are appreciated because I literally see TOS nonsense on my dash every day. 

Any more experienced copyright lawyers please feel free to weigh in – it’s part of my field yes, but my wheelhouse is more film production COT rather than derivative works.

Google Drive (TOS)

  • Google doesn’t have rights to do whatever they want to files you upload to Google Drive
  • Their TOSes are annoyingly broad in drafting but essentially boilerplate clauses that they need to host your work, use google translate on it, make it searchable etc. They cannot steal your fanfic. They cannot modify your art and use it for whatever.
  • Your work MAY be threatened (that is, deleted) thanks to FOSTA/SESTA, which imo is a clown provision signed by a clown that sent safe harbour down the toilet. This and this has more information (I’ve skimmed but not perused both), but the tl;dr is: similar to Tumblr, there was a ham-fisted attempt to protect victims of sex trafficking and all it really did was make cloud based services start deleting user files whether relevant or not. 

deviantART (Submission Policy) (TOS)

AO3 (TOS)

  • Yum. I like this one. Easy to read and clearly explained for most people with basic reading comprehension. Section G – What We Do With Content will tell you everything you need to know.
  • Basically, they have the same clauses about you granting AO3 a license to modify/etc your work, but they take the trouble to explain to you exactly what that means, and how they use it to improve accessibility etc. 
  • No history of content purges as far as I know. Explicit content is allowed with limits eg. no child porn. 

WordPress (TOS)

  • Same deal – you’re looking for 1. WordPress – Responsibility of Contributors, with the exact same thing as everybody else. They also do a decent job of explaining what they use the license for (though once again, it’s standard), albeit not as beautifully as AO3. 
  • However, images of sexual acts (including fanart) are against TOS.
  • I found no history of content purges.

Dreamwidth (TOS)

  • Same old standard licensing clause, again doesn’t let them steal your stuff.
  • Incredibly…open content policies…you can basically do whatever you want so long as you don’t break laws or commit fraud it seems? If I’m wrong, feel free to correct.

Hope this helps. Feel free to force me to read and explain any other site TOS documents. Again, more experienced copyright lawyers, feel free to correct me if I clowned up somewhere.

Uploading work to dA doesn’t give them a license to sell it to Hot Topic. This post is incorrect. Debunked here and corrected by the artist himself here. Your art is safe.”

Yepp. I thought this was the case when I read that post going around. dA has it’s problems, but they aren’t scamming or stealing.

todaysbird:

those little pine cone birdfeeders are always a popular fall kids craft, which is awesome! but just a reminder- do not use salted peanut butter for bird feeding! small amounts likely won’t hurt, but salted foods aren’t good for birds. also check for xylitol – this is found in some peanut butter and can make birds very very sick!

if you are allergic to peanut butter, you can use unsalted sunflower, cashew, or other nut butters!

Xylitol can make a lot of other animals sick, too, including dogs and cats. If you have pets, I suggest not keeping xylitol-containing peanut butter around at all. 

if the IRS calls you, it’s NOT the IRS

airagorncharda:

Today I got called by someone claiming to be the IRS. They left three

identical

automated voicemail messages before I woke up, telling me that I needed to call them immediately and that it was urgent. 

Upon calling them at the number they gave, I was told that due to some mistakes with my taxes there was a WARRANT FOR MY ARREST, and that if the matter was not solved DURING THAT PHONE CALL, police officers would come ARREST ME AT MY HOUSE in 30-35 minutes. 

They used a bunch of scare tactics and sounded fairly convincing. 

I told them I was going to verify with the police, hung up, and called the local police. Before I got out more than “Someone called me claiming to be the IRS–” the police officer said “Oh that’s a scam. The IRS will never call you on the phone.”

After talking to a handful of people about this today and looking it up on

the IRS website, here’s what I’ve learned:

  1. The IRS will never call you on the phone about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
  2. The IRS will never

    ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

  3. The IRS will never

    threaten to bring any law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

  4. The IRS will never

    use email, texts or any social media to discuss your personal tax issue involving bills or refunds.

  5. If the IRS has a problem with your taxes, you will be given months to handle to situation. The government does not call you and require immediate action. If someone is calling you requiring you to respond instantly, they are not the government. It’s a scam.
  6. If you are contacted by someone claiming to be from the IRS in any way (email, phone, mail, fax, etc.) and it seems suspicious or you just want to double check, this is the official IRS website’s recommendations for how to handle and report it.
  7. This one might be obvious but just in case: NEVER give out your Social Security Number over the phone, or in any other context unless it is absolutely vital.

These scam artists try to scare you into making fast choices based in panic and fear. If someone contacting you is trying to scare you into giving them money, they are not the government. 

If you know anyone who has anxiety, English isn’t their first language, or who has reasons to be extra afraid of the threat of police, or any other reasons for this type of scam to be especially stressful or effective, please make sure you give them this information. Tell your friends, your siblings, your coworkers, your parents, your grandparents. Please spread this information.  

Why lush is so expensive

vampire-crimson:

whatsanapocalae:

neopets-slut:

Please remember that Lush is a fair trade company. This means that all they pay ALL of their workers a livable amount, and don’t take advantage of workers and harvesters in third world countries like many brands do. They test none of their products on animals as well.

Please keep these things in mind! Just know there is a reason that they cannot sell their bath bombs for 99 cents each. Doing so would mean that hard workers are being under paid.

other reasons it’s expensive: 

  • constant checks on their resources – They will drop any company that they are partnered with if they learn that they are gathering ingredients in an inhumane way, harming the environment, or puts their people at risk
  • charity work – if you’ve ever heard of Charity Pot, it’s called such because 100% of the cost (not proceeds) go to charity. It’s not what’s left over after they’ve paid the workers or bought the ingredients, it’s every single cent. 
  • kitchens instead of factories – They dont have a big warehouse of stock. They don’t have processing plants. What they have are buildings with industrial kitchen equipment, where all products are made by hand. 
  • fighting animal testing – a lot of companies say that they dont do animal testing, but they don’t do anything to prevent animal testing and may use ingredients sourced from animal testing. Lush leads protests, creates bills, and spreads information, as well as only work with those who don’t use animal testing, in order to fight the system
  • helping their sources- If they find out that something is wrong with one of their companies, they’ll do what they can to fix it. That means, if something is broken, they will fix it, even though it’s just someone that they’re partnered with. 
  • delicate products – everything they sell has an expiration date, because it’s all made out of fresh ingredients and they use as little preservatives and unnatural things as they can. That and bathbombs break, all the time. They can’t sell it if it has any damage larger than a dime.

this is… actually really nice information to know? im too broke to be able to afford their products, so the only access to any info about them i have is either word of mouth or if i were to actually look up information about them. 

i always assumed it was some status symbol thing like apple but im always happy to learn that things arent like that!

niorig:

philosoverted:

geekremix:

moosefrog:

boredpanda:

20+ One-Picture Horror Stories That We Do Not Recommend Reading Alone

@briancoldrick has a tumblr if you’d like to see more!

Look at all those guardian angels being there for lonely people. ❤

Perhaps horror and terror aren’t always the same thing, and darkness isn’t always indicative of harm.

The traveler in the tunnel groped his way forward with a hand against the wall, a chill creeping up his spine. The guardian, watching its brave trespasser stumble, lit a candle for the man to find: on the other side he’d be outside the spirit’s care, but now at least there would be a light to guide his way.

The man alone in empty rows of cubicles allowed himself to be taken advantage of by his employers. The resident spirit kept watch on its melancholy charge, encouraging him to leave by spreading a vague feeling of unease: endless mechanized work was not meant for mortals, whose lives pass by so quickly if they let themselves be stripped of joy.

The guardians kept a close eye on the young woman. She was blithely unaware of the unscrupulous fraternity boys who never overstayed their welcome in her apartment after a wild party: who, instead, always stumbled home to pass out on their own couches, and fell asleep to the vision of many eyes judging their guilty thoughts.

The boy liked to be alone. When his father was home it was never good, but once his family moved into their new place something crept through the darkness that was stronger than his father’s temper. It wasn’t long before his father stopped raising his voice and his fists, frightened by horrible dreams that left him drenched in sweat whenever he so much as thought about hurting his son. The boy slept soundly: he always felt safe for as long as he lived in that house.

The radio broadcaster had recently lost his husband. When he was at work the good memories felt close by, and some of the horror of those last days beside a hospital bed faded away. Sometimes, when the weight grew unbearable, he almost thought he felt a hand on his shoulder, a soft voice telling him he was never truly alone. His love was there. He would always be there, as long as he was needed.

The darkness watched out for the ones who couldn’t watch out for themselves.

Rev logging again for the stories added.