I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read a post at Micro Persuasion about AOL’s instant messenger (AIM) TOS:

Content You Post

You may only post Content that you created or which the owner of the Content has given you. You may not post or distribute Content that is illegal or that violates these Terms of Service. By posting or submitting Content on any AIM Product, you represent and warrant that (i) you own all the rights to this Content or are authorized to use and distribute this Content on the AIM Product and (ii) this Content does not and will not infringe any copyright or any other third-party right nor violate any applicable law or regulation.

Although you or the owner of the Content retain ownership of all right, title and interest in Content that you post to any AIM Product, AOL owns all right, title and interest in any compilation, collective work or other derivative work created by AOL using or incorporating this Content. In addition, by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the Content or to be compensated for any such uses.

No, I don’t like the way that reads. So I called AOL and was passed around from department to department. Eventually I was told that AIM and AOL are separate and he really couldn’t speak for the AIM department but if the TOS says that on AIM, that’s the way it is.

Since a lot of people use AIM for business purposes you might want to re-think that. In truth the majority of AIM conversations are anything anyone would care about….yeah I know that. I do think anyone using AIM ought to know that by using their product they wave their right to privacy. If they decide to continue using it after that, fine, so be it.

Why have I decided not to use it anymore? That TOS was NOT there when I first created my AIM account years ago. When it changed someone should have let me know. Since they didn’t, I feel like they snuck it in and my trust is broken. Thanks anyway, but I’ll just use Yahoo Messenger.

Update: This is the TOS for content for AOL (paid service):

You may only post Content that you created or which you have been given permission to post by the owner of the Content. You may not post or distribute Content that is illegal or that violates the AOL Community Guidelines. By posting or submitting Content on any AOL Service, you represent and warrant that (i) you own all the rights to this Content or are authorized to use and distribute this Content on the AOL Services and (ii) this Content does not and will not infringe any copyright or any other third-party right nor violate any applicable law or regulation.

Although you or the owner of the Content retain ownership of all right, title, and interest in Content that you post to any AOL Service, AOL owns all right, title, and interest in any compilation, collective work or other derivative work created by AOL using or incorporating this Content. In addition, by posting Content on an AOL Service, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium.

For clarity, this is AOL’s definition of content:

Content – Information, software, games, communications, photos, video, graphics, music, sound and other materials provided by or through the AOL Services.

Does “communications” include email?

Update 2: AOL responded here. Andrew (the AOL rep) said AIM is private. If it’s private the TOS should reflect that. Currently it doesn’t. Only until that TOS is changed will I believe it’s private.