"non-exclusive, royalty-free license..." Um, what?

So I was going to submit my web site to the directory when I read this little gem...

In exchange for ODP's consideration of the site I am submitting, I agree to grant Netscape Communications Corporation a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, publish, copy, edit, modify, or create derivative works from my submission.

Uhhh, no I don't. So I didn't submit.

Maybe I'm mistaken, maybe I didn't understand this correctly. I'm a writer, I publish my work to my web site, and I certainly would not grant under any circumstance a corporation, any corporation, a free license to edit, modify, or create derivative works from my submission.

Isn't this asking a little much? Who in their right mind would agree to that?

Is the above "submission" in that agreement my web site and its content, or did I miss something?

It only means that the ODP can use, publish, copy, edit, modify, or create derivative works from the submission, not from the website. The submission is the url address and includes title and description text. You are not submitting your content, you are submitting a url.

The water seems a little muddy for me on this.

While I can see how it could be interpreted to just refer to what you mentioned, is it not really my entire web site that I am submitting to the ODP for review? You are reviewing the entire web site are you not? Not just the URL, title and description that I give you. This is how I interpreted "submission" to mean the whole web site.

That agreement seems to be worded a little too eloquently for a simple title and a 20 to 30 word description. Maybe if it specified the title and description instead of using such a general term I would feel a little more at ease hitting that submit button.

Well that is what it means, whether you understand it or not.

None of us here have the ability or right to change or modify the statement, so there is little use arguing about it.

The choice is simple: you can join the 4.5 millionother websites whom we have not ripped off, or you can decline to submit and hope thyat maybe, some day, we will find your site by accident, list it, and you won't have to deal with the submission form.

The choice is simple, the choice is yours.

Good luck determining the course of action you wish to pursue.

Oh look, a snappy wit-filled comeback. Listen, I just expressed my concern about the agreement and how I came to interpret it in the way I did, that's all. I don't expect you to understand, but you can never be too careful about matters such as these, especially on the internet, especially for an artist, writer, or any other type of profession that involves proprietary work.

You're right, the choice is simple, and with editors such as you, I'm going to go ahead and pass. Luckily the ODP isn't the end to all ends.

Thanks for the kind wishes.

Validus, think about it this way. We do not assume, and have never assumed that THE WEBMASTER WAS SUBMITTING HIS OWN SITE. No, on the contrary, any surfer can submit any site whatsoever.

So, anything you give up by submitting your own site, I or anyone else can take from you by ... submitting your site.

Given that absolutely certain truth, given that many sites have in fact been submitted and listed by other than their owners, -- why then, your interpretation doesn't make any sense at all. There is only one interpretation that makes sense. And it is that when you submit, you give AOL the right to your submittal. That's all! Not the webpage you submitted, not the website containing the page you submitted, not anything at all but what the simple words say, your SUBMITTAL.

In a context which makes it absolutely clear that nothing else could make sense.

But ... AOL has to do this. If I take your words and add them to the ODP as a listing, AOL is going to give EVERYONE a license to publish those words of YOURS. How can they do that -- unless you give them that right?

But the only point of submitting is to allow AOL to give out that license.

What you read is absolutely necessary, and crystal clear, in the context in which it occurs.