RSS feeds

[allendesign]

I'm totally clueless as to the legalities of of using RSS feeds. Can you pick up an RSS Feed and place it in your site if it contains information that you feel would be useful to your readers? Wouldn't it be copyright infringement the site you picked it up from contains a copyright? If they provide a feed does it mean that you're free to share the information provided in the feed? Need some answers please... Thanks!

 

[Spade]

I'm totally clueless as to the legalities of of using RSS feeds. Can you pick up an RSS Feed and place it in your site if it contains information that you feel would be useful to your readers? Wouldn't it be copyright infringement the site you picked it up from contains a copyright? If they provide a feed does it mean that you're free to share the information provided in the feed? Need some answers please... Thanks!

If they provide a feed, its absolutely free and clear to share. They wouldnt do that if they didnt want their information out there.

 

[allendesign]

Thanks! I felt stupid even asking. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. Now I know.

 

[enlytend]

If they provide a feed, its absolutely free and clear to share. They wouldnt do that if they didnt want their information out there.

Not so.

Different providers have different terms of use, and it's usually different for using the feed for personal use vs using it on a website, especially a commercial website. Read, read, read - it should be posted on the site somewhere.

 

[Spade]

Not so.

Different providers have different terms of use, and it's usually different for using the feed for personal use vs using it on a website, especially a commercial website. Read, read, read - it should be posted on the site somewhere.

My error, out of curiousity - can you show me a site which has an RSS feed, and then outlines terms for its use, I havnt seen anything like that.

Justin

 

[allendesign]

My error, out of curiousity - can you show me a site which has an RSS feed, and then outlines terms for its use, I havnt seen anything like that.

Justin

Me either; that's why I'm not really sure what the rules are. Anybody else add to this???

 

[enlytend]

Here's CNN's (bold text is mine):

"Use of RSS Feeds:
RSS is a free service offered by CNN for non-commercial use. Any other uses, including without limitation the incorporation of advertising into or the placement of advertising associated with or targeted towards the RSS Content, are strictly prohibited. You must use the RSS feeds as provided by CNN, and you may not edit or modify the text, content or links supplied by CNN. For web posting, reprint, transcript or licensing requests for CNN material, please send your request to [email protected]. "

It's fine to subscribe to the feeds, non-commercial web use is usually OK, using anything on a commercial web site often is not. Not that people don't do it anyway, but ...

 

[allendesign]

Thanks - Rep added. CNN is a major company. Do most of the little guys care or are they just happy to get a link to their site?

 

[Spade]

enlytend,

Thanks for noticing that. I have not seen this before, and Ive used several RSS feeds... I will have to keep an eye out for the fine print in the future.

Justin

 

[enlytend]

Yeah, I ruin all my own fun by looking for things like that .

One of these days when I have the time I'll have to post my list of "free to use" feed sources. Feeds that contain advertisements are almost always in that category, finding ones without ads can be tricky.