Is this true. . .

Do you use a freely available email program such as Google Mail? Have you ever sent proprietary material (e.g. PDF, MP3 etc) as an attachment?

Apart from it being a potentially insecure media to use – it looks like you may be ‘giving your material away’ without realising it. Let me explain. . .

I was doing some research online for a client’s copywriting project when I came across this video on YouTube. It highlights the importance of reading the small print whenever we sign up for a service; whether that’s email or one of the social websites.

Now – I’m not a legal whizz-kid; not by any stretch of the imagination so I’m curious… is this a true and correct interpretation of the terms and conditions quoted?

Take a look – it’s only 4.5 minutes long (and yes, it is advertising an event so it may be hype – I don’t know) – and share your thoughts or, if you happen to be a legal-eagle, tell us… should we be extremely careful about what we’re putting out on these free websites?

Of course there may be some content you don’t mind having passed around, but if someone else is gaining revenue from the content you generate without giving you a share, it doesn’t seem very fair to me. Or am I getting paranoid here?