rasterboy

Not true. You can take the data that you posted for a cache and post it to any other geocache site (Navicache is one example). Leathermans got it. The trick is that you as a cache owner cad do what you want with your cache data, but anyone else can't use the data from GC.com without permission. Any web site has to do something like that (except the Opencaching project which is organizated specificly with automatic permission in mind) if they are successful at any level. The entire issue is who should get permission and who shouldn't. I guess I find it disturbing that people are so willing to give up control of their data to third parties who wish to lock it up and control it. There are sites that are quite successful without restricting how data is used by the people who created it. (See the datalibre.com project for some interesting ideas in this area.)

This is not true. You retain rights to the data you've published. GC.com is granted rights to do database backups, publish the collection as it sees fit, and more. I'm hoping you are correct. I tried to understand the 'Waypoint License Agreement' as well as I could, not being a lawyer. If what you say is right, I suppose it would be more appropriate to say that you give the data to Geocaching.com and allow them to sell it, and crontrol access to it, while you are still allowed to do what you want with your own data. If this is the case, I suppose the solution is for each person to submit their data to some publically available database that *any* site can then use. How realistic this is, I don't know...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, when you enter information on the Geocaching.com web site, you effectively transfer the rights to that information to Geocaching.com, at which point you no longer have the rights to that data. You can only use the data 'internally' at that point, and cannot share it with anyone publically. Geocaching.com however, can sell, rent, or lease that data - the data you gave them - as they wish. So as I understand it, by submitting your data to Geocaching.com you give it up, though if you submitted somewhere else first, I think you would retain the rights to *that version* of the data. So pretend you first enter info about a cache on Geocaching.com, then mention it on a mailing list, or on your own web site, you would be in violation of the agreement. For the people that submit their data directly to Geocaching.com first, does it bother you that they take away your ability to use your own data?