Here , here and here, you will read about the new Google AJAX Feed API. It looks like a great thing for people to use for creating new web applications - all without having to buy server farms in order to proxy data. Yes, great I say! Kind of like Yahoo! Pipes...
Yes, great indeed, just don't attempt to make money off of the new creation you make. Note the following from the terms of service:
5.6 You agree that if you use the Feed API to develop a service for other users, it must be made accessible to your end users without charge.
There you have it... I wonder how far this extends? Certainly it makes sense that you could not create a service that wraps up the same functionality and brand it your own - then sell it. However, that seems to be covered here:
5.7 Unless you have been specifically permitted to do so in a separate agreement with Google, you agree that you will not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade or resell the Services for any purpose.
I would hope 5.6 is simply poorly written, but I am guessing it is intended to be as far reaching and ambiguous as it appears. Does that cover usage where you might have a subscription site where users are charged and some feed reading is added on later? Point being, what if the "feed" usage is a minimal part of the site, as far as payment goes?
At any rate - it would be much more useful if these services would simply charge like the Amazon services do, i.e. S3 etc.
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Benjamin Bach
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Hi, I've just finished my new vertical job search engine JobGeni http://www.jobgeni.com that runs on Google AJAX Feed API. It's pulls the data from several major jobsites like indeed, simplyhired, yahoo hotjobs, monster and jobster.
Posted by: Vidal | Apr 15, 2008 7:23:49 AM