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Free Service Definition
The core idea is to protect users' freedom when they use services (gmail, flickr, todocue, etc) — to standardize Terms of Service/Privacy Policies so users know how a service will respect their freedom, privacy, and data.
Please put comments on each requirement immediately beneath it, and include your signature.
0. Uses all Free Software
1. Uses free/standard data formats if possible
2. Provides trivial and costless data export for backup/transferability
3. Keeps information private except with explicit permission.
4. Deletes all of user's records within N hours/days of closing account
5. Doesn't log personally identifiable information
6. Limits liability for provider
7. Protects trademark/naming rights of provider
Perhaps two versions, a FSL and LFSL, could exist, with the LFSL not containing requirement 0.
Having a standardized FSL would make the decision to become a freedom-respecting service provider simpler and less risky.
Naturally, one requirement of FSL services would be that they do not incorporate/contain non-FSL services (like many third-party advertising or statistics providers). Given a critical mass of FSL services or at least mindshare, we might even see FSL versions of Google AdSense, Analytics etc.
Related Links/Resources The Affero GPL is GPL plus a requirement that service providers must provide source of modified network applications, even if there isn't a transfer of code in the normal desktop-application sense. I am not releasing TodoCue as open source until I figure out what makes more sense: the AGPL, or a different license that goes beyond AGPL, requiring any services that use it to be under the FSL.
OSCON, coming up on July 24th, includes Eben Moglen talking about Licensing in the Web 2.0 Era and Tim O'Reilly talking about The Cathedral AND the Bazaar and the "six axes of open source".
Alex Barnett posted a good summary of related discussion over the last several months.
Havoc just finished his keynote at GUADEC 2007 related to this. It provoked a lot of good discussion that I hope will lead to the creation of a Free Service License (or Open Service Definition as Havoc called it), not to mention the Gnome Online Desktop.