Everyone’ s freaking out about the new Terms of Service that Facebook has set into motion. In a matter of days, the Facebook group “People Against the New Terms of Service” has grown to over 42,000 members.I’m not going to pretend it didn’t freak me out a little at first, but with some reassurance and an open mind to the explanations of those more “legal-jargon wise” than myself, I realized they’re just trying to cover their ass. 
One group member wrote in and said something profound… or maybe it’s just common sense. “If you care so much about your intellectual properties, STOP UPLOADING THEM TO PUBLIC WEBSITES”.
I have to say, I couldn’t agree more. The same people kicking and screaming are the same ones uploading picture after indecent picture and posting status updates that are debatably legal.
Facebook member Peggy said “This stinks…..many of my photos are of my creations. My jewelry is my living….I dont want to share my photos or ideas”. My advice is to get a website, host it somewhere other than Facebook and I think you’ll actually make a better living. Copyright your photos. If you don’t want to share your creations, you might want to refrain from posting them on facebook- a network that shares every aspect of your being if you let it.
The media are invoking fear in Facebook users by creating titles such as: “We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever.” The real issue here is not that they’re claiming our information, but that we are uploading information onto this thing… no big deal…it’s called the World Wide Web and that, my friends, means it’s available to everyone. So, if this is a problem for you, head into your Privacy Preferences and uncheck the box that declines the publication of your information on the web.
Company legal representative Susan White clarified in a statement today. “We used to have several different documents that outlined what people could and could not do on Facebook, but now we’re consolidating all this information to one central place,” she said.
For those worried about their writing, photography, illustrations or any other kind of creative innovation, this might be of note to you.
Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt read a public statement on Monday- “We are not claiming and have never claimed ownership of material that users upload. And indeed, Facebook’s terms of service do say that ‘User Content and Applications/Connect Sites’ are exempt from its claims on content ownership.” He continued, “The new Terms were clarified to be more consistent with the behavior of the site. That is, 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).”
Be careful what you post, you are your responsibility.
Spring (photo) cleaning anyone?
Ask not what Facebook can do for you, Ask what you can do for your Facebook. What do you think about all this commotion??
Looks like they decided to make an announcement because of all the buzz that bloggers like you created:
FROM FACEBOOK’S (LOGGED IN) HOME PAGE
“Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. For more information, visit the Facebook Blog.
If you want to share your thoughts on what should be in the new terms, check out our group Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.”
I heard about this! I think it’s totally crazy of them to change things so drastically!
very interesting