Facebook have just recently updated their Terms of Service. Facebook are claiming ownership to your content, even after you have removed it from the site. In more detail,Amanda L. French, Ph.D. who writes about “Digital humanities, poetic form, 19th- and 20th-century British and Irish literature” on her blog, has neatly summed up some of the issues that arise from this change of the TOS. You can reead the full post on her blog at Facebook terms of service compared with MySpace, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter
1. Facebook apparently wants to keep all its rights to your stuff after you remove it from Facebook, and even after you delete your Facebook account; they just removed the lines that specified that their rights end when your content comes down. Nobody else (of those I looked at) would dream of that; mostly they specifically state that their rights to your content end when you remove the content from their site or delete your account.
2. This one kills me: Facebook claims it can do whatever it wants with your content if you put a Share on Facebook link on your web page. Unbelievable–and unique, as far as I can tell. People can post links in Facebook to your content just by copying and pasting the URL, but if you want to save them a few keystrokes by putting a link or a widget on your site, Facebook claims that you’ve granted them a whole mess of rights. Count me out.
3. Other sites point out in their terms of service that you still own your content: Facebook doesn’t mention that little fact. Facebook also neglects to remind you that you’re giving other Facebook users rights to your Facebook content, too — YouTube, for example, makes it clear that other people besides YouTube have a right to use and spread around the videos you upload. In general, other sites’ terms of service just have a more helpful tone.
now i’m glad i have stayed away from Facebook
It can drag you in, that’s for sure. Thanks for your comments Joe. Enjoyed reading your blog, by the way.