Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • IT Management
    • Storage

    Are Changes to the Facebook Terms of Service Much Ado About Nothing?

    By
    Debra Donston
    -
    February 17, 2009
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Facebook users have been all a-twitter the past couple of days about a change in the social network’s terms of service.

      Facebook recently reorganized its TOS and, in doing so, changed some information pertaining to who owns the information posted on Facebook after a user terminates his or her account.

      The blog The Consumerist delved deep into the new language. In a Feb. 15 post provocatively titled “Facebook’s New Terms of Service: We Can Do Anything We Want with Your Content Forever,” The Consumerist’s Chris Walters said:

      “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.“

      The post ignited a firestorm among the blogging community, copyright experts and privacy advocates, as well as professional writers and photographers who had loaded their content to the site for promotion. It likely also caused alarm among people who had perhaps too blithely agreed to the TOS when they signed up for Facebook and wondered what it meant for a service to own their personal photos and status updates.

      In fact, several Facebook groups formed protests, including one that urged users to change their profile pics to a black box that read “This is in protest to Facebook’s terms of service.”

      The Consumerist has posted several updates to its original report, including one that includes Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s response to the controversy.

      The note, which Zuckerberg posted on Facebook.com Feb. 16, reads in part:

      “A couple of weeks ago, we updated our terms of use to clarify a few points for our users. A number of people have raised questions about our changes, so I’d like to address those here. I’ll also take the opportunity to explain how we think about people’s information.Our philosophy is that people own their information and control who they share it with. When a person shares information on Facebook, they first need to grant Facebook a license to use that information so that we can show it to the other people they’ve asked us to share it with. Without this license, we couldn’t help people share that information.“

      On the question of how long this applies, Zuckerberg pointed out that the nature of a social network makes it challenging for the site to completely control your information because it is being shared among your Facebook friends. “One of the questions about our new terms of use is whether Facebook can use this information forever,” Zuckerberg said in his post. “When a person shares something like a message with a friend, two copies of that information are created-one in the person’s sent messages box and the other in their friend’s in-box. 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 [clearer].”

      Information Security on Social Networks

      Facebook representatives have also pointed out that users’ privacy settings offer some protection: If you have set up your account to allow only your friends to see photos and other info, Facebook won’t make that information public down the road.

      Whether the terms of service were clearer before or after the changes, what is clear now is that we are in uncharted territory. Communicating as a social network provider what is and isn’t OK in a binding TOS agreement-and, as a user, understanding all of it-is complicated when the culture of and applications for social networking sites are changing every day.

      Click here to read more about the security of social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

      But, still, that doesn’t mean we should let Facebook off the hook, nor just blindly trust that the site won’t misuse our information, as Zuckerberg seems to be implying we should in his post:

      “In reality, we wouldn’t share your information in a way you wouldn’t want. The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work. Our goal is to build great products and to communicate clearly to help people share more information in this trusted environment.We still have work to do to communicate more clearly about these issues, and our terms are one example of this. Our philosophy that people own their information and control who they share it with has remained constant. A lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective of the rights we need to provide this service to you. Over time we will continue to clarify our positions and make the terms simpler.“

      Debra Donston
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×