On Monday, I told you about Facebook's changes to Terms of Service, which would have absorbed your work into the growing social network's system forever.
After scores of users protest, Facebook has reverted back to the old TOS.
The New York Times shared this statement from Facebook in a story :
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."
The Facebook Bill of Rights group answers key concerns voiced by thousands of users since the new TOS was instituted a few weeks ago:
- You own your information. Facebook doesn't.
- When your account is deleted, that's it. Everything is gone. Facebook won't hang on to it.
- Facebook doesn't want to own your content, which includes photos, individual posts or blogs fed into the Notes system.
Click the group link to read Facebook's full statements on the TOS concerns.
Every social media group has to have certain leverage when sharing your information. They need a license to manage the highway you want to post your information on. But that's it. It is vitally important for social media users to keep up with any potential changes to Terms of Service. Like the government, you never know when a network will attempt to silently steal your content rights away.
Have fun, but be vigilant. Don't expect others to speak for you when issues like this come up. The more people who speak out, the more chances you have of protecting your rights.
sounds like Facebook made the same mistake that Google made with their Chrome (web browser) end user license agreement
I think that it is only a matter of time before they implement the reviled new TOS or something like it. Once they make enough money, a lawsuit settlement would be only pittance to them, much like with GoogleBooks. If the gains outweigh the costs, most companies will commit anything.
It should be incumbent on the service provider to inform users when they intent to change the TOS, and give enough notice that people may withdraw their content with no loss of rights.
Good grief, it's a communications network. Communicate!
I've been lax on keeping up with Terms of Service on most sites I use. I now know I need to take more care when I first read them and to any changes down the road. Thanks.
Jane Kennedy Sutton
http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/janesutton/