Isn Professor Feltens team bound by the Terms of the Hack SDMI Click-through agreement?
The scientists did not violate any of the terms outlined in the click-thru agreement. To read this agreement for yourself, check here: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/sip/sdmi/clickthru.pdf It should be noted, however, that the use of these licenses (and their cousins, the “shrink-wrap software licenses”) pose a related threat to fair use. By attempting to substitute copyright law with contract law, these “agreements” offer no chance for terms to be negotiated, and the concept of fair use is often obliterated. The continued use of these licenses may end up having a profound affect on the way the public is allowed to use copyrighted materials.
