Holy Crap!

I hate the thought that this post will be one of eleventy-billion about AIM's new TOS (terms of service), but I want to talk about it, on the off chance that someone reads this and learns something new. Fairly recently, AOL changed the terms of service in regards to AIM usage. The TOS is that thing we never read, but have to click on "I agree" before we can install stuff. I first read about the changes on some news site, but went to AIM.com to check it out for myself. The paragraph in question goes like this: "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." (taken from: http://www.aim.com/tos/tos.adp) For me, the line that catches my attention is "YOU WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO PRIVACY." AOL has declared that anything and everything that you type or read from IM's can not only be read by them, but also may be distributed however they see fit. That's pretty screwed up. I'm not one of those freaky guys found at bus stops who reek of garlic and alcohol and mumble conspiracy theories, but I am disgusted by this. I don't think that AOL/AIM is some terrible company out to steal our souls, but the fact of the matter is that a vast number of people rely and trust AIM to be a private method of communication. I mean, it's the internet, and information can be stolen, but that's behavior we expect from acne-prone 13 year-old crackers, not from the company that's providing the service. The part that gets me, is that this information wil mostly go unnoticed. Most folks won't read the TOS, especially if they've already been a user for years. Secondly, when people do hear about this, they won't think much of it. We're somewhat complacent when it comes to our privacy. It's hard to imagine AOL using the drab chats from our daily lives against us, but it's way too easy for them to harvest e-mail addresses, home addresses, and other such info without our knowing. I don't think they should have the right, especially when most users aren't aware. Unfortunately, there's not a crapload of options available to those of us that are mildly outraged by this. It's not like I can spark a revolution to get everyone to use a different chat service, considering a lot of users use AIM as their main method of communication on the web. The option that I use, and that I encourage you to use as well, is to use encryption. I hate endorsing it like this, but there are open source alternatives to the AIM client that can encrypt conversations with a degree of security that's bordering on unstoppable. Firstly, I'd like to talk about the program I use to chat: gaim. Gaim is an open source application. I'm not sure if I've talked much about what open source really is. It's actually a collection of liscences that software can be released under, the most prominent example being the GPL. If you do a google search for GPL or open source, you'll find out the nitty-gritty details; which I won't bore you with, as the topic of this post is AIM's lack of privacy. Long story short, open-source means free; free to copy and use as much as you want, with no ads, fees, or guilt-trips. Gaim is free. You don't need to register to use it, no one monitors your use of it- it's just free. I used to use gaim because I liked it better than AIM for a lotta reasons. It's quicker, no pop-ups, and you can login to MSN, Jabber, and other protocols all form the same window. I love it because it does what I want it to do, and nothing more (what a concept, eh?). Gaim is not affiliated with AIM, and is available for Linux, most Unixes, Windows, and MacOS X. The encryption plugin for gaim is available as well, the links I'll include at the bottom of this post. The downside to encryption is that both parties in the conversation must have it enabled for it to work. So I'm trying to influence as many people as possible to use these free tools to enhance privacy. I hate to be one of those people that pushes a certain program or idea, but this is a pretty big issue. I intend to protect my privacy to the bitter end and I don't intend to be forced into changing my current setup, though I will begin to look into other chat options, because if this is how AIM is going to start treating its users, I don't know how long before other things get worse. The gaim site is http://gaim.sourceforge.net and the windows version is available on the right hand side under "Windows Port" The gaim-encryption site is http://gaim-encryption.sourceforge.net/ and the link to the download is under "Latest Release." Click on the self-exracting win32 binary link. If you have any questions on how to set-up gaim and the encryption tool, or anything else regarding this post, feel free to IM me, just be sure not to write any personal information. -Anonymous and Proud Update: Hey, good news. I did a little bit of work looking into gaim-encryption and whether or not it's a feasible option. By feasible I don't mean "possible," but rather I mean "is something that is easy to set and something you won't need to worry about once it's set up." Here's a painless step-by-step howto for you folks who are willing to give this new AIM client a shot. 1. Download gaim. 2. Double click gaim to install it, all the default options should be just fine. 3. Download gaim-encryption. 4. Double click gaim-encryption to install it, and the default options should be fine. 5. Run Gaim, and login to AIM as per usual. 6. On the buddylist window, go to Tools->Preferences, and then select "Plugins" 7. Select gaim-encryption by clicking it's checkbox. 8. In the left hand list, under "Plugins," click on the "Gaim-Encryption" 9. Of the 5 checkboxes, 1, 3, 4, and 5 should all be checked. There you go, you're all set. Start conversations just like usual, and Gaim will automatically detect if the person you're talking to has encryption enabled and will act accordingly. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Also, if you do try gaim, check out the other plugins, there are some handy features there. I honestly believe that people who have used AIM for a long time will be pleasantly surprised by gaim's simplicity and capabilities. Consider giving it a shot.