AOL Cracks Down On Startup For Using Content It Gave Away

AOL: You know that content we gave away for free? Well, we're pissed now that you are using it.

That’s the question posed in a simmering battle between media giant AOL and a three-person startup called Pro Populi, which had the audacity last month to launch apps for Google Glass and the iPhone that use AOL’s CrunchBase database — a huge storehouse of basic information about people and companies in the tech industry. In theory, the apps are perfectly legal: Since its 2007 launch the CrunchBase database has been published continuously under the Creative Commons CC-BY attribution license, which permits any use — commercial or non-commercial — provided the owner receives credit. In practice, though, AOL is very angry.