I don't know that I agree I guess? I think when they say they have the right to "make copies of, retain, transmit, reformat, display, and distribute via communication tools Your Content on the Services" - that basically describes sharing your content? They copy your content, they transmit it to their service, they retain the copy, they reformat it for another context, they display & distribute it - all on "the Services."
Like what in there is "more" than you need to share an item? I certainly see how they could add more text restricting the nature of the license to be in line with user intent - but that feels like it goes against that it's "implied." Which is it? Is it obvious what rights Microsoft needs to share content or should they go into more excruciating legal detail?
(I do agree with you that the post title distorts the Mozilla license, for the record)
> I think when they say they have the right to "make copies of, retain.." - that basically describes sharing your content?
It does. But that is not the rights they granted themselves - they start that list with "for example". The actual rights they grant themselves are:
> To the extent necessary to provide the Services to you and others, to protect you and the Services, and to improve Microsoft products and services
That is all MS products and services. In other words, they grant themselves exactly the right to train AI on your content, that you had used as an example of the consequences of vagueness.
To move beyond this specific license - when an entity wants to do with your input only what you implicitly tell it to do (send a search query to Google, host & share a document, etc.), they already have all the permissions via implication. It is when they want to do more, that they need a license.
Oh! I am the asshole here. I was relying on the quote in the thread but you are right that the full license is far too broad!
> when an entity wants to do with your input only what you implicitly tell it to do (send a search query to Google, host & share a document, etc.), they already have all the permissions via implication.
I guess I don't think this is true. If they have a nice broad license that covers what you ask of them that broad license might also allow "improving their services" (you would have to read it). The alternative is what Mozilla does here - putting limits on their use. Legal frameworks aren't...physics? They only matter if you go to court - but once you get to court the thing that matters is the text of the legal agreement. I guess...if you wanted to sue Google over what they did with your search query, the lawsuit would hinge on what their ToS said and it either says they can do what they did or it doesn't?
Like what in there is "more" than you need to share an item? I certainly see how they could add more text restricting the nature of the license to be in line with user intent - but that feels like it goes against that it's "implied." Which is it? Is it obvious what rights Microsoft needs to share content or should they go into more excruciating legal detail?