Website Licenses...?

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 5:21 pm

Does one put a license on one's website? If so, what? What about a disclaimer?

Thanks!

Brynet-Inc · Post by **Brynet-Inc** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:38 pm

Some add at least something like:
Copyright ????-2007 - Yourname/Company

You're free to licence your PHP and HTML code additionally though..

Code: Select all

<!-- HTML licence.. blah -->
/* PHP licence here.. blah 2.. */

PHP can also use C++ style comments..

Should be safe to add licences to any CSS or Javascript as well..

Hope this helps..

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:31 pm

Yeah....but what about warranties? When releasing software, your license usually says that you are not responsible for any damaged caused by it. What if your site causes some damages accidentally to someone's computer? Shouldn't one have something like the BSD for use of the entire site? Am I paranoid?..............

~ · Post by ~ » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:18 pm

If I ever release critical code, I make it look like abandonware, stating that it is absolutely free for everyone to use, but it hasn't disclaimers nor description of effective warranties.

I also try to make it to be understood like it has what it has, and that it shouldn't be used in critical applications nor if the user accepts all responsibility for the use or misuse of it and, if it well can be functional, it's more a didactic resource than a claimed industrial grade product.

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:27 pm

Uh..not for software...I mean a disclaimer of warranty for the site itself. No software included.

Hmm..I do think I'm paranoid.....

~ · Post by ~ » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:29 pm

In a website of mine I don't even put any identification of mine, as you can see. Maybe if it were an ultimate personal commercial project.

SpooK · Post by **SpooK** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:01 pm

Alboin wrote:Yeah....but what about warranties? When releasing software, your license usually says that you are not responsible for any damaged caused by it. What if your site causes some damages accidentally to someone's computer? Shouldn't one have something like the BSD for use of the entire site? Am I paranoid?..............

Ask yourself a more important question. How many people actually bother to read licenses. More computer illiterate people are starting to learn about mechanisms such as the Page Down key, Vertical Scroll Bar or the Mouse Wheel to more quickly traverse those license screens that require you to scroll to the bottom in order to even press the "accept" button, than those constantly pressing the Down Key to read each line of the actual license.

The only time someone actually reads a license, is when they are trying to pick it apart in order to bend you over without so much as the comfort of lubrication or respectful compensation in the form of something such as a reach-around. The more words you use, and the more specific you try to be, the more loopholes you create for others to exploit. Unless you have unlimited resources to invest in top dollar lawyers to write a contract/license so obscure that all interpretations favor your position... stick to plain and simple words.

Anyhow, there is no need to be paranoid. If someone buys a car and operates it incorrectly, or other than what it was intended for, and say... crashes it into a ditch... is it Car Company X's fault??? I hardly think not.

These types of license disclaimers have evolved from the human parasitic trash that the bottom-feeding lawyers are wallowing in like pigs in the mud. These type of people would rather take advantage of the big courtroom show and the sickening new-age, politically correct, emotionally based, paperwork driven, over-sensitive and sue-happy societies than earn anything legitimately.

In shorter words, the most you should have to issue, is a "common sense" clause. Use it... or lose it.

As for the "bug" factor. How many people are driving the 1+ ton steal death machine, commonly called a Car/Automobile, going in excess of 60 MPH and yet are fully aware of the fact that there might be a "defect" in the car based on chance alone? How many more know about a recall and don't act on it? How many people are driving with the knowledge that their car needs *basic* maintenance such as new break pads? And this is concerning one's entire existence... not just some semi-intelligent spreadsheet draft or some stupid savegame file that summarizes the useless investment of 80+ weeks worth of your limited lifespan.

Take a bold stand and start forcing people to, once again, be responsible for their actions. By investing in wordy licenses, you are only feeding the beast you are trying to protect yourself from. If that very beast really wants to taste your blood, you think a few choice words are going to stop it??? Words individually have a nearly exact meaning, but when mixed together it is a field-day for lawyers to draw up n-1 interpretations and start up a new e-porn site with videos all about you being raped in the @$$ in a billion different positions/scenarios... and you don't even get to pick the fluffer.

There are no guarantees in life... and anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell you something (probably that "warm" feeling of a limited warranty that is, ironically, written so obscurely that you cannot capitalize on it.)

If you are really interested in helping the rest of us, draw up a one-clause "Tough ****" license for the rest of us to use

ehird · Post by **ehird** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:13 am

Here's your one clause license in response to your 30 clause post.

SpooK · Post by **SpooK** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:13 pm

ehird wrote:Here's your one clause license in response to your 30 clause post.

There's a huge difference between a "clause" and an "explanation"

I think the license is funny.

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:43 pm

Okay, I decided just to put a modified BSD license up to cover everything on my site. Here... See anything that is obviously erroneous in it?

~ · Post by ~ » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:49 pm

I just wonder how many people of the whole ask for written permission in this globalized world.

Probably not even between users and enterprises (maybe between enterprises), and anyway they generally don't care whenever it doesn't represent a loss of any kind. But anyway, that's the routine of licenses...

Combuster · Post by **Combuster** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:18 pm

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:24 pm

But what about warranty? A disclaimer of sorts.

Code: Select all

IN NO EVENT SHALL MATTHEW SCHMIDT BE LIABLE

Doesn't this protect me from stupid users?

Note: It's not my HTML. I use CMS Made Simple, because otherwise I would never update my site. (As if I do now.

)

~ · Post by ~ » Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:47 pm

Combuster wrote:no license information = all rights reserved. Hence putting up a copyright notice on a site is just a formality unless you want people to rip your HTML

That's why it's good to be prudent about what one really wants to share with the whole world and what not. Somebody (many actually) is going to do that anyway; so, the best is to put end-user products and think twice about the actual information being shared. That's my point of view...

Alboin wrote:But what about warranty? A disclaimer of sorts.
Code: Select all
IN NO EVENT SHALL MATTHEW SCHMIDT BE LIABLE
Doesn't this protect me from stupid users?

Note: It's not my HTML. I use CMS Made Simple, because otherwise I would never update my site. (As if I do now. )

That generally should, but if you prefer to be specific (just like traditional licenses, which state that they can't decompile, etc.); but you also have to be prudent about what you say.

As it has already been stated, if you use too much words, you could overcomplicate your situation, unless you really know what you do (and you need to) and know how to properly handle legal stuff.

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:56 pm

~ wrote:As it has already been stated, if you use too much words, you could overcomplicate your situation, unless you really know what you do (and you need to) and know how to properly handle legal stuff.

I don't know much about legal stuff, but I'm using the BSD license (Slightly modified), which was written by someone who does. Also, I don't think I'm using too many words...Am I? It's BSD.........