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Legal Considerations
for Consuming & Producing APIs

Benjamin J. Balter

* Hey, I’m an API!

About Me

Presidential Innovation Fellow working on Project MyGov
Digital Strategy within Office of the US Chief Information Officer
Business Process Automation on White House SoftWare Automation and Technology (SWAT) Team
New Media at the Federal Communications Commission

* I’m not really a lawyer; views are my own

Roadmap

Consuming APIs
Producing APis
Resources

Consuming APIs

The Problem

Most APIs have Terms of Service
associated with them
Use of the API constitutes tacit consent to the terms

The Solution

Apps.gov
Negotiate on behalf of Government

Consuming APIs (Cont’d)

Some things in TOSs that gov can’t agree to (ADA, Good Business):

Personal use presumption
Indemnification / Limitations on Liability
Forum Selection
Termination
Changes without notification

Producing APIs

Terms of Service

Scope
Use
Attribution
Modification / False Representation
Right to Limit
Termination
Changes
Warranties / Liability / Indemnification

Producing APIs

API Keys

Are they necessary?
May require collecting Personally Identifiable Information
Single sign on (Memo)
May reveal trade Secrets

Resources

.Gov

FCC API Terms of Service
This presentation http://bit.ly/api-legal

User Friendly

WordPress.com Terms (Creative Commons)
TOS-DR

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