DISQUS

Drew Chapman · 10 months ago

Agreed wholeheartedly. People make that agreement constantly, and almost always completely go ape-shit when they find out what they AGREED to, as if they are entitled to revolt or have been wronged in some way.

But for 99% of us, it really doesn't even matter. Since my Facebook is just a recap of what I am doing on other sites, they don't own anything I created. Just my itinerary for the most part.

And another thing: Hasn't Facebook's TOS always included the bit about owning what you put on their site? I heard people freaking out about this like two years ago.

Liana · 10 months ago

Great post, Adam. Thanks for sharing. But, with all due respect, privacy and ownership are two different entities.

When I post content, I'm of the mindset that I am letting that site "borrow" my content for their for-profit (or not) purposes. I, for the most part, am not being paid to write for these sites, like Facebook or Twitter.

If you let me borrow something, I can't ethically go around telling people I own what you've let me borrow.

I understand that by clicking "I Agree." when signing up for a web service, I need to be aware of the TOS. Just because I make something public doesn't give anyone the right to say, "Thanks." I'll take that now. It belongs to me.

Thanks for the forum. :)

caryn · 10 months ago

great post!! thank you for saying all the things I have been thinking but haven't had the chance to write down! keep up the good work and friend me on facebook!

Liana · 10 months ago

Please allow me to post an example to continue my previous post. When you had your lights stolen from your bike, it was parked in public. But, that doesn't give someone the right to take/steal the lights from your bike. Just because it's in public, you still own the bike, right? It doesn't suddenly become the ownership of whoever decides to help themselves to it.

How is intellectual property on the web any different from tangible ownership of goods in public space?

Just some thoughts. Thanks again.

Knightryder · 10 months ago

I am just glad you narrowed it down to illegal porn... :)
As long as the rest is ok, I feel much better now!

Tony Walla · 10 months ago

Liana hit the nail on the head.

I understand that most of what I send can be sniffed out at any point in the chain. I work at an ISP and understand that by federal law, you must have the capability to tap into the network at any time if someone has the proper warrant. I may not like this but I accept it.

What I don't accept is someone taking my content like a photo and using that photo to sell other services without my permission and without any compensation.

I disagree with Liana on one point in her first comment. Facebook absolutely has the right to take any content posted to their site and use it anyway they see fit. It is in the TOS that users agree to in order to use the service. It may not be ethical and most people may not agree to it, but it is legal.

Zuckerberg is trying to diffuse the situation with a blog post on the Facebook site by stating, "In reality, we wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want." It doesn't matter what Zuckerberg says. The legal terms in the TOS didn't change with his blog post. Is it possible that this is being blown out of proportion? Absolutely!

Will I continue to use Facebook? Yes. I have connected with many friends that I haven't communicated with in years.

Will I think twice before posting a photo on Facebook? Absolutely. The last thing I want is to see a photo I posted to Facebook of a friend or relative being used on a billboard or a magazine to sell Viagra.

Mr. ToughMoneyLove · 10 months ago

I think you are missing the point of some of the concern. It's not all about privacy or indexing and storage that never goes away. It's also about Facebook's claim to your content for purposes of re-publishing and sub-licensing for profit. If you are a blogger who imports your feed to your Facebook page, FB now has the right to anything it wants with it as a re-publisher, without your permission and without compensating you. That's why today I stopped importing my feed.

coffee · 10 months ago

the fact that Facebook change their TOS back so quickly is an indication that they knew they were wrong in the first place