Recently, Facebook has gotten into some hot water over changing their terms of service (TOS) and removing the clause that said when you removed your page all licenses we be reverted to you. But why should you care?
“You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content. “
This is not a big deal, because you never really planned on deleting your account anytime soon did you? Almost every social networking site has a similar clause. This is really nothing new that they have done. It’s logical to say that they won’t do anything, but why was it necessary to change? If you have an argument with these changes the only thing that you can really question is why they changed the TOS.
While this may be uncool, it’s perfectly legal. There is also a part in the terms of service that says they have the right to change the terms without any notice.
“We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change or delete portions of these Terms at any time without further notice. Your continued use of the Facebook Service after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms.”
Ok, lets get this straight. Facebook changed their terms of service on February fourth. THE FOURTH, not the 14th or 15th. It’s been almost two weeks since this happened. I find it appalling that mainstream media haven’t noticed it since today. Aaron Hockley blogged about this February 9th and nobody seemed to pay attention. He mustn’t have been the only people looking at it then. Why did it take people so long to catch on to it? This proves the fact that a fervor can be created just by a few words (or withdrawal of words). There are now at least 3 different anti-changes groups within facebook and Mark Zuckerberg has published a statement pretty much saying that they did this to make it more secure and clarify why they have these terms of service².
If you ever uploading something on Facebook that you actually thought could make you some money, I have no sympathy for you. Why would anybody willingly give away rights to something that they think could make money? I have many pictures uploaded to facebook. I don’t think any of them are particularly newsworthy or interesting enough to make money from. Facebook will not use your pictures to defame you, that’s common logic. It is never in a companies best interest to make their customers look bad. If that’s why you are complaining then forget it. They won’t release pictures you delete to the public and they have never been shown to sell deleted pictures to tabloids. Ok, maybe they have, but I couldn’t find a source. They make millions of dollars. In 2008 Facebook was projected to make 300-350 million dollars¹. They don’t need tabloid money. It’s too bad that they legally own the pictures you have already uploaded, but if you didn’t read the TOS before you signed up, that’s your problem, not theirs.
Facebook is a social media site that thrives on user created content. If you didn’t want to share it with the rest of the world, you never had to post it. It’s each users responsibility to post responsibly. (oohh, I get to be redundant).
People need to pay attention to the sites that they use and make sure that they are comfortable letting a corporation like facebook have the ability to publish, produce, perform and do other crap with what you have created. I have no problem with what Facebook has of mine and I have never posted anything that I really felt was special, except for maybe some concert pictures. If you have a problem with what they have done, tell me, I want to hear a good argument against what has changed. Or back me up if you don’t really have a problem with it.
Please note that I am not an expert on this and I may be missing some key facts. I would really like to know more and if you can give me any more information I would gladly appreciate it. If I made a mistake, please correct me.
I think there is a big difference between sharing my email-type words with others, and giving you full ownership of my creative works (e.g. photos, blogs, etc).
It seems to me that I’m granting license to those I transmit the “stuff” to, not the medium. Facebook is the medium. What if my phone company took the same approach, or my ISP?
I’m still not getting it?
granting a license is much different than giving a part ownership. Phone companies record your call history and your ISP most likely tracks your usage. Whether or not they are able to give that stuff away I’m not sure. I have no problem with the change because I have never given them anything that I really care about and my argument is that no one should ever give away something that they care about and everyone should read the TOS before they sign up for anything.
the fact that Facebook change their TOS back so quickly is like an admission that they knew they were wrong