So maybe this is going to prick some people who love the Huffington Post, but I think Arriana needs to be called out on this.
The Huffington Post has teamed with AOL in this contest that recruits artists to send in their videos or whatever that then get voted on, on the Huffington site. First off I am not sure what the Huffington Post is doing teaming with a mega media giant with a good track record of censorship and over overzealous-control-freakdom? Second why are they involved in such a contest that offers the typical, "we get as much as we want, you get shit" compensation to the original creators?
Click for the details...
Here are the two big offenders from The Rules:
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5) You own your entry, but we can use it.
You are free to use your entry on your own personal site or elsewhere offline however you please, and the content you submit is your sole responsibility. Otherwise, The Huffington Post and (as further described in these General Rules) AOL will be the exclusive on-line publishers of your entry through June 2007 (regardless of whether you win or lose the contest), without any additional compensation to you. During the exclusivity period you will not permit or authorize your entry to be published elsewhere on-line (other than your own personal site). Following the exclusivity period, either Huffington Post or AOL or both may continue during the ensuing twelve (12) months to publish your entry in their respective discretion, just no longer on an exclusive basis.
6) The Huffington Post and AOL receive an online, royalty free license to use the entry.
This license means Huffington Post (or AOL, as further described in these General Rules) can use your entry (on an exclusive basis for the designated exclusivity period, as described in item no. 5 above) online for the purpose of the contest, for archives and subsequent publication, promotions, and other related uses, without any additional compensation to you. The Huffington Post and AOL will not transfer this exclusive (for the period designated in item no. 5 above), royalty free license to other parties. AOL may use your entry in its own on-line projects for various purposes, including derivative works. And by participating in the Festival, you agree to AOL's use of your entry as described in these General Rules and the Terms and Conditions of Part 4.
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Derivative works? So does that mean if someone creates a character in their submission, that AOL now can take that character and make a online show or something and never have to compensate the original creator? God, those are just about the shittiest terms I could possibly imagine.
These kinds of contests are the lowest rent scam on the internet - pillaging the hard work for artists - and if AOL and Huffington Post make hand over fist due to the artist's work, they pay nothing to them. For what really? Posting a link on their site and 15MB of space, talk about cheap.
and AOL is one of the largest corporate media giants, and are no friends to free speech, just compensation, or progressive values. And they likely will be behind the efforts to create a pay to publish/access system on broadband, as reported in The Nation a few days ago.
Just some random samples from AOL history:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.faqs.org/...
http://www.aolsucks.org/...
http://www.aolsucks.org/...
Maybe I am off base, but I think these kinds of contests stink and are hardly exemplary of progressive values or fair compensation, and I don't understand why Huffington Post would get involved, other than the cheap self promotion they get out of it, which is itself not progressive either.