This is a guest post from Marsh Gardiner, who knows a little secret...that anyone can submit stories to API Evangelist. All you do is submit a pull request on the Github repo that runs the site. Of course stories still have to meet my standards, but Marsh shares many of the same views of the APIs space, and knows what is important to my readers, and the API community.
Spotted on Twitter today:
Slack's new API ToS is fascinating. It forbids using their API to collect data for the government or law enforcement: pic.twitter.com/zBAtbYuHo8
— Eric Mill (@konklone) May 28, 2015… and based on Stewart Butterfield's response, this gem is the work of Anne Toth:
@craig_montuori @konklone @etrepum All blame or credit to @clean_freak
— Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) May 28, 2015At their worst, terms of service sound like an invitation to live in a police state. At their best, a terms of service document can reflect the personality of its brand (and Slack certainly has personality!). Until today, my favorite notable example has been Aviary's, who innovated around humanizing abstruse legalese into something much more friendly readable.
The best APIs, like any good products, express the joy of the people who build them — bravo to Slack for breaking out of the mundane and making their ToS take a stand.
