Facebook this month changed its policy to say user content
belonged to Facebook
Outraged members canceled their accounts or created online petitions
On Wednesday, Facebook reviewed user “feedback,” and reverted to its old policy
Changing the terms to allow themselves ownership of your material, even if you decide to leave Facebook, shows if anything there is potential for very large problems in years to come.
—Welcome to the Machine (ok that was just cheesy)
This article appears in Feb 12-18, 2009.
So they could own what exactly? Copies of my photos and videos? Ok, that’s not great, but what else? My thoughts and comments on things? What would you have online that could really be owned by someone else?
Stuff like your photos can’t be copyrighted, especially when uploaded from you personal computer (they can tell from the metadata that it came from your computer) I’m thinking they’re talking more about things like applications, but I think that they’re already claiming that sort of stuff as their material, so what’s the big deal? Half the companies you work for now make you sign a waiver that basically forces you to hand over any work/computer programs/improvement ideas (this even extends as far as something as simple as a Excel spreadsheet) as theirs anyways, so this is old news.
Shmeh, if they want to own my pet pupz application…they can fill their boots.
… and this people is yet another reason why you avoid myopic, social networking sites.
If you don’t post shit that could come back to haunt you in the future, then don’t worry.
About a year ago someone created a group called “the xxx side of the valley”…a “friend” of mine was in the group and every time something was posted it’d come up on my newsfeed. The group didn’t last long, but when you check your facebook on a public computer at say a library you don’t really expect hardcore homegrown porn pics to pop up.
Anyway, point IS: people were posting explicit pics on FB. Even though they deleted the group, those pics could still be on FB’s servers, thus, coming back to haunt your ass 10 or 15 years down the road.
Although, that goes for anything you put on the internet. Once it’s there, it never goes away no matter how many times you “delete” it.
The internet is serious fucking business!
Kitty, those pics ARE still on their server.
They DON’T delete anything, they simply deny external access to it. If you ‘leave’ facebook’, they just change your password to junk so you won’t ever get back in but nothing is removed.
Facebook is now a full-throttle data-collecting site which (I would expect) they can refine and sell to credit-card companies, etc.. to give population habits or police for facial recognition tracking or software enhancements.
I haven’t gone through the contracts/etc, but have read articles on it.
And really, they would be stupid not to. Millions of people volunteering their info? duh? no-brainer.
They can’t actually share your info without permission. Besides, think of it this way; every email you’ve ever sent, every picture you’ve ever sent has the same situation. Just because they have an internal Privacy Policy, does not mean that they’re exempt from local laws, either. They have to follow both PIPEDA and the American equivalent when it comes to your electronic data. It’s a tough game; especially since they have such a huge site. They need to balance what is fair (and more importantly secure) and what make financial sense for the website. Simply signing on to the internet means that your information is shared by your ISP and whomever requests it. Information is and has always been a form of currency. The internet has just refined it; and FB is like a credit card with an infinite limit. Use it at your own risk and don’t put anything on it, that you don’t want on it.
due to public outcry the TOS have been reverted..and you use FB how 2005