AIM Terms of Services

AOL has changed the Instant Messenger TOS. Ted Leung writes:

If AOL decide they wanted to post logs of your AOL AIM/iChat conversations, they could do so at any time.…We the users of the system have no recourse other than to stop using the system.

If you have me on your AOL/iChat buddy list, we now have a problem. I want to honor the new AOL TOS by discontinuing my usage of the system. The likely target candidate is for me to start running Adium and making Jabber the primary protocol that I try to use. Unfortunately, things are complicated because I use iChat’s audio and video chat features, and they rely on the AOL buddy list system for their operation. I can only hope that the rumors about Jabber support in Tiger’s version of iChat are true. Someone should get Steve Jobs to read the AOL management the riot act.

There’s more on MacSlash and MetaFilter. My guess is that AOL was simply trying to protect itself and got carried away in enumerating its rights.