David CarrollJun 9, 2023
in a weird way i think the existence of Bluesky suddenly made Mastodon better I can’t explain it and now it might be time for Mastodon to make Bluesky better; pre-cross-federated social is gonna be a ride; and then cross-federation; whooosh
Show threadMastodon MigrationJun 9, 2023

@profcarroll Bridging content to Bluesky without consent violates users copyright to their content because Bluesky extracts a broad license to all content posted on their platform and transfered over their protocol. Bridge builders do not have the right to grant these wholesale licenses, so any such bridge is illegal. Just because you can technically do something does not make it legal or ethical.

#DataProtection

Show threadMastodon MigrationJun 9, 2023

@profcarroll Such bridges also violate Bluesky ToS which requires the poster to assert they have the legal right to post the content, since they don't.

#DataProtection

Show threadDavid CarrollJun 9, 2023
@mastodonmigration we gonna have to disagree about this unfortunately, I’m afraid
Dvora PaulJun 9, 2023
Show threadMastodon Migration
@profcarroll No we are not. This is not about your opinion. This is about copyright law. Current copyright laws prohibit this kind of bridging. Mastodon users generally do not consent to having their content distributed to other services, and the other services claim a broad license to content presented on their platforms, including the right to data mine and monetize that content. Bridges do not have the legal right to convey this content. It is not their content to license.
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#DataProtection
Jun 9, 2023 at 4:17amWeb
Show threadMastodon MigrationJun 9, 2023

@profcarroll When you sign up for #Bluesky, #Twitter or #Meta you agree to give them a license to content you post. It is a very broad perpetual license giving them lots of rights to your content, including the right to sublicense. When you sign up for Mastodon, most instances do not take a license, the content rights you give them are defined in the privacy policy, and they do not include reposting your content to corporate sites that assume licenses to the content.

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#DataProtection

Show threadMastodon MigrationJun 9, 2023

@profcarroll Any bridge that takes content from Mastodon and without permission places that content on another platform is violating that user's copyright to the content. You can not authorize a license to something which you do not own.

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#DataProtection

Show threadMastodon MigrationJun 9, 2023

@profcarroll In fact, a hypothetical bridge that scoops up and posts content, which it does not own to a corporate platform, is also in violation of that platform's terms of service wherein the poster guarantees that they have the right to the content they are posting.

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#DataProtection

Show threadMastodon MigrationJun 9, 2023

@profcarroll It does not matter that you want to do this, or that you think it would be wonderful if all Fediverse content were available on Bluesky. As long as Bluesky extracts a license for all content posted on the site, a bridge that gives them content it does not own or have a license to sublicense is in violation of the content owners legal rights, and liable for copyright infringement.

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#DataProtection

Show threadGanWeavingJun 10, 2023
@mastodonmigration @profcarroll 🤷‍♂️