Andrew Weinstein has added his commentary to my post, and to Steve Rubel’s post as well. Since it seems to be pretty much a copy / paste response I imagine he posted it elsewhere as well.

Maybe the blogophere’s reaction was over the top, and maybe I jumped on the bandwagon too soon, I don’t know. But here’s the thing as I see it.

Andrews says in his comment that

“AOL does not monitor, read or review any user-to-user communication through the AIM network…. The AIM privacy policy (which is part of the AIM TOS) should make that crystal clear…”

and then, a little later

“The related section of the Terms of Service is called “Content You Post” and, as such, logically and legally it relates only to content a user posts in a public area of the service.”

Except nowhere in the TOS does it say that this section only applies to the public areas, and since it’s part of the AOL Instant Messenger TOS I think it’s fairly “logical” that users would think that it applies to AIM messages. In addition, the TOS clearly states in the Content You Post section (as I quoted earlier) “You waive any right to privacy.” That leads me to believe that the AIM Privacy Policy doesn’t apply to Content You Post.

While I’m at it, however, it does seem a little like a tempest in a teapot, since this language has been in the TOS for over a year.

Perhaps I should be reading the AIM TOS on a daily basis to keep up with the changes, I don’t think I was notified of this change by AOL, and I still find the terms objectionable.

Update: Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing pitches in his $0.02.