8 Legal Things to Know About FaceBook
10 Aug 2007 (Fri)READING LEGAL ANDREW’S LATEST POST on Facebook has just gotten me worried. He wrote (summarized):
“…have you bothered to read Facebook’s Terms of Service (”TOS”) or Privacy Policy? What legal relationship have you agreed to? Who has access to your data and personal details? I waded through their terms and policies. Here are some things I found.
- The terms can change any time…. you’re deemed to accept those changes by continuing to use the site. Even if you didn’t know of the change.
- Personal use only. LinkedIn is all about jobs and business. MySpace is full of profiles for companies and products. But Facebook is supposedly only for personal use.
- A single, individual user account…. you can’t have two accounts on Facebook.
- You’re giving up a HUGE license… did you know that posting content gives Facebook a license to do whatever they want with your content?
- Applications are NOT guaranteed safe… “installer beware.” A malicious application developer could break through Facebook’s security protocols and expose your info… but Facebook wouldn’t have to take the blame.
- Disputes are arbitrated under Delaware law. You’ve agreed to “final and binding arbitration” for resolving most disputes with Facebook.
- You surrender all submissions. If you send it to them, it becomes their property.
- Privacy is NOT guaranteed. Besides, Facebook’s own third-party contractors might misuse your information.
.
Afternote 11 Aug 2007: See also: Terms of Use and Privacy Policy on NETCoachAsia.com. Most terms in these statements have stipulated and approved by TrustSg.
- 7 Things to Turn Off in Facebook
- 13 reasons your Facebook account will be disabled
- “iPad Research – Test and Keep” scam?
- 27 Things to Do Before a Conference
- A demographic winter for Whites worldwide
- 6 Essential Things to Know About Google’s OpenSocial
- Recent financial crisis is a “hyperlink” crisis – BG Yeo
Posted by J.K. in Legal, Possibilities, Problems, Social Media | 16 Comments |
August 11th, 2007 at 2:34 am
Sounds like a pretty fair ToS to me, except 1. which I hope they would at least email the members about any changes in ToS.
August 11th, 2007 at 8:30 am
I disagree, U-zyn. I’ve read many ToS. Seems to me that at least points 4 and 8 are not standard AND not common. Usually, content are owned by content creators. And where third-parties are concerned, permission is asked before any such “give, sell or rent” action. For example:
August 11th, 2007 at 8:35 am
By the way, what are the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy on Ping.sg? Do you mean that all the 8 points above apply on Ping.sg too? :-p
August 13th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Facebook is rife with privacy issues…. I think MySpace is the lesser of two evils.
August 13th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
I really have no problem with the ToS of facebook…Now I barely use it
but even if I did I wouldn’t have a problem.
August 15th, 2007 at 5:01 am
I don’t like the idea of Facebook getting a license of anything that I put on there, that is ridiculous!
August 15th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I’ve recently started to use Facebook after seeing so many of my friends on it. I’ve been uploading photos like crazy to the site. I think I should scale some of that back if I’m going to be giving up rights to those photos…
August 18th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Very timely. I’m about to sign up for Facebook. I have had a myspace account for a while.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:04 am
wow! I have Facebook and I didn’t know any of this… it might be time for me to stop submitting photos…
September 1st, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Wow, I have a profile on there and I didn’t even know about all of this – some of it, but not the bad stuff.
First off, only for personal use? If that’s true, then creating an account and promoting my blog with it is off limits, and also because you can only have one account.
I also don’t think they should gain the license to anything we do on Facebook. It’s not right. Maybe I shouldn’t post my written stories or publish my photos on there anymore.
Maybe I shouldn’t use Facebook at all. Myspace is better, all the way.
September 1st, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I never bothered reading Facebooks TOS, interesting finds though!
September 9th, 2007 at 12:48 am
Have used facebook for awhile so really helpful post, thx !
September 10th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
This is one reason I don’t like social networking sites. You have no protection of your content whatsoever on these sites. I wouldn’t want to post my pictures or blog on a site knowing that they can claim ownership of it..
September 12th, 2007 at 8:27 am
Facebook vs. Myspace…. I wonder if you could break down the various social status of both users and find any signifiagnt difference. Seems like lower ses people are on myspace.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I heard about this from a seminar speaker at an internet conference. It appears Myspace and even gmail have similar “TOS”.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Facebook has realized that it’s at the top of the food-chain very quickly. They can pretty much do anything they want with your information at any time…. even if you cancel your membership. Sounds like big brother.
@MatthewLoop