Week 5 Lecture Response: Facebook isn't as "friendly" as it seems

In week 5 of lecture, we talked a lot about the privacy issues pertinent to various social networks.  I found specifically Facebook’s “Terms and Services” very interesting and was shocked to learn I had significantly less privacy than I had thought.

First off, as a user, Facebook keeps all its rights to your content and postings after you remove it from Facebook.  Even more alarming, they keep all its rights to your stuff even after you deactivate your account.  All the other social networks end the rights to your content when you remove it from their site or delete your account.

Secondly, Facebook claims it can do whatever it wants with your content if you put a “Share on Facebook” link on your web page.  As we all know, your Facebook friends can post links in Facebook to your content just by copying and pasting the URL, but if you want to save them by posting a link on your page, Facebook claims that you’ve granted them a whole mess of rights.  So lets say you share a YouTube video of yourself on your page.  Facebook now has the right to do as it pleases to that video.  Scary, huh?

Thirdly, nowhere in Facebook’s “Terms and Services” does it state that you, as a user, own your content.  Most other social networking sites state that.  Oh, but wait, it get’s better!  Facebook also neglects to inform you that you’re giving other Facebook users rights to your Facebook content, too.  With that being said, it’s important to make sure you know and trust your facebook friends with the content you’re posting on an everyday basis.  You never know how a “friend” might take your content and use it against you.     

"Facebook's Privacy Issues Are Even Deeper Than We Know." Forbes. N.p., 8 Aug 2011. Web. 11 Aug 2012. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2011/08/08/facebooks-privacy-issues-are-even-deeper-than-we-knew/>.