Publishers Upset Over Apple's Opt-Out Terms for Inclusion in iOS 9 News App

[MacRumors]

Apple recently sent a mass email to news publishers to introduce them to Apple News, an upcoming Flipboard-inspired app for iOS 9 that will deliver curated news and magazine stories with custom layouts, photo galleries, videos and animations optimized for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

The email has ignited some controversy in the news and blogging community over the past week, according to the BBC, which reports that some writers are disappointed about Apple's decision to automatically include a website's RSS feeds in Apple News unless they specifically opt out by replying to the email.

"Let me get this straight, Apple: you send me an e-mail outlining the terms under which you will redistribute my content, and you will just assume that I agree to your terms unless I opt out?" wrote Plausible Labs programmer Mike Ash on his personal blog. "This makes typical clickwrap EULA nonsense look downright reasonable by comparison. You're going to consider me bound to terms you just declared to me in an e-mail as long as I don't respond? That's completely crazy. You don't even know if I received the e-mail!"

Some bloggers argue that not all publishers are guaranteed to see the email, which could easily be overlooked or buried in a spam inbox, leading to their content being featured on Apple News without their knowledge or explicit consent. Apple also has permission to place advertising next to or near a publisher's content without providing any compensation, and will pass on any legal fees to publishers.

You agree to let us use, display, store, and reproduce the content in your RSS feeds including placing advertising next to or near your content without compensation to you. Don't worry, we will not put advertising inside your content without your permission.
You confirm that you have all necessary rights to publish your RSS content, and allow Apple to use it for News as we set forth here. You will be responsible for any payments that might be due to any contributors or other third parties for the creation and use of your RSS content.
If we receive a legal claim about your RSS content, we will tell you so that you can resolve the issue, including indemnifying Apple if Apple is included in the claim.
You can remove your RSS feed whenever you want by opting out or changing your settings in News Publisher.

Apple News is highlighted as one of the main features on the iOS 9 preview page, so it is no surprise that Apple is attempting to have as much content available on the platform at launch as possible. It is clear, however, that many publishers would have appreciated the terms of Apple News being set on an opt-in rather than opt-out basis. Apple so far has not commented on those concerns.

Article Link: Publishers Upset Over Apple's Opt-Out Terms for Inclusion in iOS 9 News App

 

[thekeyring]

What the hell?

 

[Zachari]

i smell a lawsuit

 

[Alumeenium]

I was actually looking forward to the News app, figures it screws content creators

oh well, back to RSS feeds for me

 

[edgr.sanchez]

The RSS feeds that Apple will be using to add content to Apple News is the same RSS feed that I, a regular guy, can parse and add into my own app right?

 

[bmunge]

That's hilarious. Nice try Apple.

 

[Colino]

The sheer thought that Apple should be criticized/ held responsible for people not reading their emails is laughable. Moving on.

 

[AngusW]

Yeah, so with this I definitely will choose to not make use of this feature. I'll stick with going to USA Today and CNN apps as well as all my local news outlets. I wish we could opt out of the presence of this app.

 

[rbrian]

Isn't that what rss is for? Why provide such a feed if you don't want anyone to use it? And didn't Flipboard do the exact same thing years ago? I'm just guessing here, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'd be more annoyed if I was Flipboard, who seem to have been Sherlocked...

 

[PilotC150]

If it's a public RSS feed, then is there really a problem with what's Apple's doing? They're just using content that's publicly available content and providing it to Apple users. They're not charging for it, nor are they redistributing content that's supposed to be behind a paywall.

To me it seems the email was just to let the publishers know that Apple is using the content that's already being provided and allowing the providers to opt-out if they wish. As long as Apple isn't claiming that they created the content (and giving credit to the creators) then I don't see what the problem is.

 

[Pbrutto]

What next? A free U2 album I didn't ask for?

 

[bennibeef]

But... isnt this what RSS feeds are for?

Yeah, that doesnt sound very nice if you read there may be ads next to your stuff, but I mean, when I use an app that reads RSS feeds and displays ads.. whats different?

 

[RickInHouston]

apple is getting bigger, and bigger and bigger. They'll keep doing this as long as people keep voting with their wallet. If I were apple I'd do the same thing until there was any sense of revenue pushback.

 

[edgr.sanchez]

Isn't that what rss is for? Why provide such a feed if you don't want anyone to use it? And didn't Flipboard do the exact same thing years ago? I'm just guessing here, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'd be more annoyed if I was Flipboard, who seem to have been Sherlocked...

If it's a public RSS feed, then is there really a problem with what's Apple's doing? They're just using content that's publicly available content and providing it to Apple users. They're not charging for it, nor are they redistributing content that's supposed to be behind a paywall.

To me it seems the email was just to let the publishers know that Apple is using the content that's already being provided and allowing the providers to opt-out if they wish. As long as Apple isn't claiming that they created the content (and giving credit to the creators) then I don't see what the problem is.

That's exactly what I was thinking. They're using the RSS feeds provided by the news sites.

 

[AngerDanger]

Time for bloggers to start incessantly reposting Microsoft ads to mess with Apple.

 

[CobraPA]

Hahaha. Well, if Apple hadn't sent anything, and then didn't use people's content, there would be complaints that Apple wasn't being inclusive. "Apple, why isn't my content included!?!?!" Always easy to complain...

 

[seamer]

Google Reader did the same thing. Only the difference here is Apple is involved. Remember Readers biggest flaw? It was shut down. That's it. Apple's making the same product that should work even better on devices and people are upset?

This is a modern take on an old idea.

 

[DustinLH00]

Agree with others, it is a publicly available RSS feed so **** off. They should be thrilled Apple is including them in the app at all, thereby driving clicks to their websites. Talk about biting the hand.

 

[neuropsychguy]

A tempest in a teapot by publishers. They publish a public RSS feed and then get upset when Apple links to it? Maybe some of those complaining are upset that someone might read what they wrote and see that it's not worth reading.

 

[HowEver]

Everybody on the planet now 'repurposes' what they find on the web. When every individual in this thread, or related company, removes content that they have published on facebook, twitter, their own website, or wherever, that belongs to someone else, then they have something to complain about. And not until then.

 

[hlfway2anywhere]

Go ahead and opt-out, publishers. Theres a 98% chance I'll never see your crap if you do.

 

[Quu]

It's funny to me that these companies put RSS feeds up themselves, published public content in a machine readable format to be combined in news feeds.

Apple makes an app that automatically uses those RSS feeds, which again are published by the content creators on purpose to make it easier for people to read their content.

And they lose their s**t. Do you want people to read your content or not? If you don't why are you still publishing RSS feeds?

 

[Eweie]

This is what I call great trolling

 

[MartyF81]

RSS = Really Simple Syndication

The whole purpose of RSS is to give Syndication... if you don't want to Syndicate.. don't have RSS turned on your page?

 

[lewisd25]

I'm curious about Apple's focus on RSS feeds, when most of the ones I've seen are truncated and don't show all of the content. Macrumors is thankfully one of the few that displays everything.