This past Sunday, an article on Consumerist.com brought to light a new aspect of Facebook’s Terms of Use:
“Facebook’s terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.
Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.”
-Chris Walters, Consumerist.com
This article sparked such concern among Facebook users that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has actually come forward, issuing a statement meant to clarify these new terms of use:
“…if you send a message to another user (or post to their wall, etc…), that content might not be removed by Facebook if you delete your account (but can be deleted by your friend)…Even if the person deactivates their account, their friend still has a copy of that message. We think this is the right way for Facebook to work, and it is consistent with how other services like e-mail work. One of the reasons we updated our terms was to make this more clear,” Zuckerberg is quoted as saying.
These new TOS seem to be clarifying the fact that, if you deactivate your account, there is no guarantee that all of the information you have put up on Facebook will go away with it. In many cases, things like messages, wall postings, photos, and virtual gifts remain on the site with only your profile no longer linked.
Additionally, when a user has Facebook email notifications set, this sends a transcript of a message or wall posting to his/her email, creating another copy of the data.
Essentially, Zuckerberg’s claim is that nothing has changed about the privacy of your information on Facebook. Earlier Beacon concerns notwithstanding, it seems that Facebook is still not as close to self-awareness as these last few days have made users fear.
The full transcript of the clarification can be found at the end of the Consumerist.com article and in this USA Today article.
No related posts.
I probably should be more concerned, but I’m not. For one, the policy does say that it is subject to your privacy settings. I’m a realist to know that Facebook might find a way to use what I post for some reason, friends can see what I posted so they can share it, and also understand that Facebook is a big target for hackers. Thus, there is nothing that makes me believe anything I post will remain private. I understand this is a trade-off for using this service. With that in mind I don’t post anything I don’t expect others to see. I can understand that might feel only slightly comforting to some, but it is good enough for me.
Also, and probably more importantly, I believe in Open Access. With that in mind, I have no problem with people using the content I post in other ways. In fact, I think what the only thing that this latest kerfuffle is going to do to change my thoughts or practices is to encourage me explicitly put a Creative Commons statement on my Facebook account.
Comment by Edward M. Corrado — February 17, 2009 @ 6:47 pm
[...] Last week after an article on Consumerist.com brought up Facebook’s new Terms of Use (since rescinded), a bit of a kerfuffle ensued. Blogs were full of posts about how this was unacceptable and Facebook groups were formed to protest the change and some people even joined groups say they were going to delete their accounts if the policy wasn’t changed back (or to something else). For a good summary, see Katherine Lynch’s blog post about the situation. [...]
Pingback by blog.ecorrado.us » Facebook Privacy Kerfuffle — February 19, 2009 @ 8:20 pm