Internet Archive’s terms of use were written in March of 2001, and they haven’t changed once – until today. The terms were written before the Wayback Machine was launched (in October 2001) when we had 4 billion web pages with no public access and 360 Prelinger Archive movies in the archive. Now we have 435 billion web pages and more than 15 million public audio, video and text items. Times have changed, and we have made a small change to our terms to reflect this.
In the interest of transparency, we want to show you exactly what the change is.
We have made small changes in paragraphs two and three of the terms. The previous version of these sections is in red below:
“…You agree not to interfere with the work of other users or Archive personnel, servers, or resources. Further, you agree not to recirculate your password to other people or organizations or to copy offsite any part of the Collections without written permission. Please report any unauthorized use of your password promptly to info@archive.org…
“…You agree to abide by all applicable laws and regulations, including intellectual property laws, in connection with your use of the Archive. In particular, you certify that your use of any part of the Archive’s Collections will be noncommercial and will be limited to noninfringing or fair use under copyright law. In using the Archive’s site, Collections, and/or services…”
This is the new version with the changed portion in green type:
“…You agree not to interfere with the work of other users or Archive personnel, servers, or resources. Further, you agree not to recirculate your password to other people or organizations. Please report any unauthorized use of your password promptly to info@archive.org…
“…You agree to abide by all applicable laws and regulations, including intellectual property laws, in connection with your use of the Archive. In particular, you certify that your use of any part of the Archive’s Collections will be limited to noninfringing or fair use under copyright law. If a Creative Commons or other license has been declared for particular material on the Archive, to the extent you trust the declaration and declarer (which is rarely the Internet Archive), you may use the content according to the terms and conditions of the applicable license. In using the Archive’s site, Collections, and/or services…”
Thank you for continuing to use the amazing resources housed in the Internet Archive.
UPDATE 12/31/14: The change on 12/30 applied to the language in the third paragraph of the terms. On 12/31 we made an additional small change to the language in the second paragraph, and modified the text of this post to reflect both changes.
Great! That “noncommercial” part was quite ugly, now I no longer have to tell people “yes, but they don’t really *mean* it”. 😉
from your terms of use:
“…Further, you agree not to recirculate your password
to other people.
This is a hardship.
I had previously done this because I didn’t realize you had the provision there.
Sometimes, I want to contribute a large file to the archive, but my internet connection is slow or limited by a data plan. In those instances, I have to give my credentials to another worker so he can do it for me.
Thus, I’m asking an exemption.
user name andrewbontrager@gmail.com