http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,494804,00.htmlJust trust us.
That's what Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the estimated 175 million users of his social-networking Web site Monday afternoon after the company had stepped into yet another bad-publicity mess of its own creation.
Basically, Zuckerberg told Facebook devotees that he'd never, ever do anything bad with their posted content even though the user agreement says he's perfectly entitled to do so.
"The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work," he wrote in a reassuring-sounding message on the official Facebook blog. "Our goal is to build great products and to communicate clearly to help people share more information in this trusted environment."
Still, that doesn't change the fact that Facebook's Terms of Service the long legal document all users must agree to before they can sign up grants the company "an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or ... (ii) enable a user to Post."
Hundreds of thousands of Facebook users read that scary passage for the first time after the consumer-interest blog Consumerist.com lit up a sleepy holiday weekend on Sunday evening with a posting entitled "Facebook's New Terms Of Service: 'We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever.'"
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Leaving Facebook? eh not so fast.
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Facebook worries me. So does Google. Whether they say they will use the information they have control of for good or evil doesn't matter. In my opinion, no one should be in control of so much information.
P-Worm
P-Worm
That is scary. At least I will have someone to complain about now if something bad happens or he lies about trusting him.
Google scares me the most. For instance, I went to Google Groups and they had recommended threads based upon my search activity. They have got to have data centers full of petabytes of personal information and searches.
Facebook also has any phone numbers, addresses, etc. from your profile stored. Can anyone imagine bad day + unscrupulous employee = identity theft?
I heard on the radio this morning (DC 101) that they have decided to not implement the new terms of service because people were not pleased by them.
But surely you are missing the point, being able to edit, manipulate adapt etc etc as they have changed the agreement to means they can take whatever you put and change it.
This is very frightening.
Well, to some degree I see what they were doing with the new TOS wording. It's true that if you post something, like a message or wall post, that content will stay on Facebook's servers "forever". Even if you delete your account, your posts still remain in your friends' profiles.
The real problem was the ambiguity of the wording, and I think it was a reality check for a lot of people to wake up and say "Hey, yeah, maybe I should think twice about the stuff I post". Which is why I went back and removed a few silly photos and posts that didn't need to stay up.
The real problem was the ambiguity of the wording, and I think it was a reality check for a lot of people to wake up and say "Hey, yeah, maybe I should think twice about the stuff I post". Which is why I went back and removed a few silly photos and posts that didn't need to stay up.
this is just about how its always been on facebook. you can't even delete your account. only deactivate it. and all this i found out too late after i joined. i do not know when the terms were changed, as afaik they weren't like that when i first signed up before even all US Universities were 'networks'. this is also why i haven't bothered to delete my account since they'd still have the freedom to do with it whatever they'd like. i'm glad its getting a public outcry though, and hopefully this raises users awareness.
I don't want a competing service. I wish Facebook and social networking didn't exist at all. What I hate the most about the whole thing is that my personal information gets put up on the service whether I like it or not because friends post pictures that have me in it and talk about things we did, etc.
I don't even get a say in my privacy anymore!
P-Worm
maybe a lawyer can chime in here. let's say a soldier joins facebook and writes his story in many messages and pics to his friends on facebook.
then he wants to sell his memoires. will facebook get money of this?
second case: facebook comes across the soldiers page and sells the story to a puplisher. will the soldier get money out of this? it's his life after all that they make a movie of.
just think of all the pictures that were posted on facebook. all those rights are basically lost for the owners.
btw: in germany the terms of service of facebook are most likely void anyway. so if you need to join facebook do it in a country that protects your content and gives you a chance to sue them.
then he wants to sell his memoires. will facebook get money of this?
second case: facebook comes across the soldiers page and sells the story to a puplisher. will the soldier get money out of this? it's his life after all that they make a movie of.
just think of all the pictures that were posted on facebook. all those rights are basically lost for the owners.
btw: in germany the terms of service of facebook are most likely void anyway. so if you need to join facebook do it in a country that protects your content and gives you a chance to sue them.
what does this mean for those of us who like to post our own creative works on Facebook?
I read over the "User Content" section in the Terms of Use, and essentially what it seems to be saying is "yes, you own your user content, but we can use it however we damn well please for the promotion (or "so-called" promotion) of the site." Doesn't this violate some sort of copyright law? I can't imagine it falls under "fair use." Would it just be wisest for me to remove my art? Once removed, the "license granted" expires on said content.
I read over the "User Content" section in the Terms of Use, and essentially what it seems to be saying is "yes, you own your user content, but we can use it however we damn well please for the promotion (or "so-called" promotion) of the site." Doesn't this violate some sort of copyright law? I can't imagine it falls under "fair use." Would it just be wisest for me to remove my art? Once removed, the "license granted" expires on said content.
Two words: it depends
Anyway, I just quit Facebook the other day. Myspace is better, but not by much.