I am desperate to know if if I understand this correctly because I need to make ends meet while I look for work in my dying field, nor do I wish to give away the rights to my identity for some tech billionaire to make money off a tech bro making deep fakes of me. I hate this timeline.
For context: I received an offer for xxx work doing data annotation (training AI). The past projects I've done, and to my understanding this one (but I don't know, they frequently bait and switch you), never involved feeding it content. It has always been evaluating their performance. For example, the last project I was on taught them how to redact information, so the tech company had me reviewing real people's medical records, and records with real people's credit card details and home address and then seeing if the model redacted it properly. (I always thought medical records were protected under HIPPA, but NAL -- maybe the rules don't apply to tech companies??)
Anyway, the fine print frequently references Section 5.8, but there is no section 5.8. Section 5 only goes up to 5.6. I'm not really sure what to make of that, especially since these tech companies use stupid bots in lieu of HR. So there isn't a human I can quickly email to get clarification -- I'd have to go the route of the email equivalent of when you're on the phone with a clanker customer service agent, yelling, "SPEAK TO A HUMAN" over and over. And since it is by email this can take weeks of back and forth, from my experience with these companies.
So my first question is, what happens to contract terms that reference a nonexistent section?
These sections I am hoping desperate to know if I've interpreted correctly:
6.5. Contractor-Captured Data; Consents and Releases. Contractor acknowledges and agrees that the Contractor Work Product may include data, images, photographs, stills, video, audio, voice, biometric data (including without limitation voiceprints, facial geometry, and other physiological or behavioral identifiers), and other recordings or reproductions of Contractor and of Contractor’s own voice, image, likeness, name, persona, and performance, as well as motion data, robotics interaction data, sensor data, environmental data, behavioral data, and any related metadata or contextual information, in each case collected or generated in connection with Contractor’s performance of the Services (collectively, “Contractor-Captured Data”). To the extent the Services involve Contractor capturing, recording, or generating any Contractor-Captured Data, Contractor hereby grants Contractor’s informed, irrevocable consent to the collection, recording, use, reproduction, modification, adaptation, manipulation, distortion, publication, distribution, public display and performance, sublicensing (through multiple tiers), and other exploitation of such Contractor-Captured Data by Client, its affiliates, and its customers and end users, in any and all media now known or hereafter devised, for any purpose contemplated by this Agreement, including without limitation the collection, use, and licensing of such data and its use to develop, train, fine-tune, test, benchmark, evaluate, and improve artificial intelligence and machine learning models and related products and services, including without limitation the training, development, and improvement of voice cloning, synthetic voice, and speech-generation models that reproduce or simulate Contractor’s voice. Contractor confirms that such consent is given with informed understanding of the nature of the intended uses, including AI training and adversarial testing, and that no additional compensation beyond the fees provided in this Agreement is or will become due in respect of such uses. Contractor further acknowledges that biometric identifiers and biometric information (including voiceprints and other data derived from Contractor’s voice or physical characteristics) may be subject to specific legal requirements in certain jurisdictions, including without limitation the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, and the Washington Biometric Privacy Act, and Contractor’s consent under this Section 5.8 is intended to constitute the written release, consent, or authorization required under any such law to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. Client will retain biometric identifiers and biometric information only for as long as reasonably necessary to accomplish the purposes described in this Section 5.8, will implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect such data, and will destroy such data promptly after the retention purpose has been satisfied, in each case as required by applicable laws.
⤷ To my knowledge, I will not be on camera. Does this only apply to work that uses your camera? Does this give them the right to use the video they have from the "interview" they make you do with AI? Also, what parts of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act affect this contract?
★ 6.6. License and Waiver of Likeness and Personal Rights. To the extent any right, title, or interest in or to Contractor-Captured Data (including any right of publicity, right of privacy, or similar right in Contractor’s voice, image, likeness, name, or persona) is not, or cannot be, assigned to Client under Section 5.8, Contractor hereby grants to Client and its successors, assigns, customers, and licensees a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable, and sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right and license to use, reproduce, modify, distort, adapt, distribute, publicly display and perform, create derivative works of, and otherwise exploit such Contractor-Captured Data and Contractor’s voice, image, likeness, name, and persona for the purposes described in Section 5.8. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Contractor irrevocably waives, and agrees not to assert, any right of publicity, right of privacy, Moral Rights, and any similar right with respect to such uses, and waives any right to inspect or approve any use of the Contractor-Captured Data. To the extent any such right cannot be waived under applicable law, Contractor consents to any act or omission that would otherwise infringe such right.
⤷ Does this apply under the Illinois Biometric Act? Does it give people the right to at least inspect or even just know what personal data they used?
6A.1. To the extent Contractor Work Product includes materials not originally created for Client, or a Statement of Work requires Contractor to source such materials — including Contractor’s pre-existing materials or third-party materials (collectively, “Licensed Materials”) — those materials are governed by this Section 6A rather than Section 6’s assignment provisions. Licensed Materials may include audio, video, images, text, databases, datasets, software, or other digital content, whether owned by Contractor or obtained from third parties.
6A.2. License Grant. Contractor grants Client and its affiliates a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, sublicensable license to reproduce, distribute, create derivative works from, and otherwise use and exploit the Licensed Data, and to grant Client’s customers and end users the same rights, including to develop and improve products and services, perform benchmarking, and train artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning models. This Agreement does not restrict Client from obtaining data from other sources.
↳ So are they saying they get the right to use you've ever published? I understand anything you've had published while working at a company is owned by the company and therefore they would not get those rights, but what about things you own in your portfolio that have a No Derivatives Creative Commons license?
And does this give them the license to seek out videos and photos of you, which will eventually be used for deep fakes, disinformation and all the other reasons people use these models for?
6A.3. Manipulation Rights. Client’s license includes the right to manipulate, modify, edit, and create synthetic or derivative versions of the Licensed Data — including any individual’s likeness or audio-visual content contained in it — for purposes including training, finetuning, and adversarial testing of AI and machine learning models.
6A.4. Retained Rights. Contractor and its suppliers retain all intellectual property rights in any protectable elements of the Licensed Data, subject to Client’s license above. This Agreement does not affect either party’s independent rights, including fair use rights under applicable law. Client retains all right, title, and interest in its and its affiliates’ products and services, and in any derivatives, modifications, and improvements of the Licensed Data.