Facebook’s new TOS scares some users
You’d think I was on an all out assault on Facebook this week. Really, I’m not… they are just on a bad PR streak in the news. It seems some users have realized that their new terms of service released this week has some rather scary wording in it.
Facebook’s Terms of Service — the long legal document all users must agree to before they can sign up — grants the company “an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or … (ii) enable a user to Post.”
So basically, they own anything you upload… forever!
If you are concerned that you might see your photos, music, videos, and/or writings sold somewhere sometime without your permission or knowledge, then don’t upload them to Facebook. You have been warned.
So what does CEO Mark Zuckerberg have to say about this? …”Just trust us.”
Famous last words.
Update: Nothing a little bad press can’t solve. Facebook has reversed their policy and reverted to the previous TOS. So what have they leaned in the past few days? Probably nothing, but they should be taking the clue that they should think before they react.
Regardless, I would still advise that you be careful of what you upload.
