Perhaps we shouldn't be giving our review data to companies like yelp that lock it up then. The user certainly doesn't gain anything from their contributions being sequestered.
Because it sounds like a pretty good idea. Freely distributable attributed reviews under non exclusive licence is way cooler than a db full of yelp scrapings.
I don't really have any issue with Yelp's terms of service. After all, user reviews are their backbone so I don't blame them for wanting to make sure that any Yelp review information needs to be identified as coming from Yelp / under certain restrictions.
Wouldn't seem fair if Yelp did all the work and any app or platform can simply piggyback off of it and present it as their own, or obscure where it came from.
Relevant info: the lawsuit of craigslist vs padmapper and 3taps: "3taps claimed that Craigslist was a public website, so anyone, including 3Taps always had authorization. The court disagreed with this..." (Wikipedia)
