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What do the two ownerships clauses (quoted below) mean in practice? It's unlikely AirThings will come after me if I download all the data from my sensors and po

by sxp 2y ago

What do the two ownerships clauses (quoted below) mean in practice? It's unlikely AirThings will come after me if I download all the data from my sensors and post them online. And is there any evidence that they've gone after people who have created open source interfaces to their APIs? It sounds like their lawyers just wrote aggressive clauses into their contracts to cover their asses in case they are acquired or want to utilize the data in other ways. > In 15.4. of Airthings T&C it writes: “We own and shall retain ownership of all rights to all data and information collected via the Services provided to you…" > Furthermore, in 15.2 Airthings claims all rights for modifications that you might carry out on the Airthings monitor: “You hereby assign to Airthings all right, title, and interest (including Intellectual Property Rights) that you may have in any custom developments, modifications, or derivative works of the Services and Products created or developed by or for you, including but not limited to design, artwork, technology, software, data, functionality, and documentation."

ahaucnx 2y ago
Achim from AirGradient here. You raise an excellent point. Often T&C are indeed just written by lawyers and potentially not being enforced at all. However, it really does restrict what you can do with the monitors in practical ways. Let's say you want to build a business around using AirThings monitors with your own dashboard analysing the data and giving value added services. If you don't officially own the data, are you actually allowed to use it and monetize it for your own purposes? With these T&Cs and if you do this (and I actually know a few companies that do exactly that) you open a legal liability that AirThings could come after you.
sliken 2y ago
If you don't want airthings to own your data, do not upload it to them. Airthings has a git repo allowing you to read your own data, keep it inside your network, and graph it with graphana or anything you want. However if you use their free, er, no charge service to view your data, then they own what they upload. If you want to own your data, buy the airthings, don't use their service, and do anything you want with your data.

by sxp 2y ago

ahaucnx 2y ago

Achim from AirGradient here. You raise an excellent point. Often T&C are indeed just written by lawyers and potentially not being enforced at all. However, it really does restrict what you can do with the monitors in practical ways. Let's say you want to build a business around using AirThings monitors with your own dashboard analysing the data and giving value added services. If you don't officially own the data, are you actually allowed to use it and monetize it for your own purposes? With these T&Cs and if you do this (and I actually know a few companies that do exactly that) you open a legal liability that AirThings could come after you.

sliken 2y ago

If you don't want airthings to own your data, do not upload it to them. Airthings has a git repo allowing you to read your own data, keep it inside your network, and graph it with graphana or anything you want. However if you use their free, er, no charge service to view your data, then they own what they upload. If you want to own your data, buy the airthings, don't use their service, and do anything you want with your data.