Facebook user policy under scrutiny
Despite restoring its original policy, users question terms of use.
Published March 5, 2009
Mass protests and group petitions are usually reserved for unpopular policy implemented by governments around the globe, but because Facebook has a user base the size of the world's sixth largest country, it has to deal with similar problems.
On Feb. 16, Facebook updated its terms of use. The new terms stated that Facebook could keep information posted to the Web site even after the user who posted it deletes an account. After a backlash from users, Facebook reverted to the original terms of use. Although the terms are back to the way they were, this change has drawn attention to language.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, said in a blog post that his company was only retaining people's posted information to ensure when an account is deleted messages made to friends remain intact.
"Even if the person deactivates their account, their friend still has a copy of that message," Zuckerberg said. "We think this is the right way for Facebook to work, and it is consistent with how other services like e-mail work. One of the reasons we updated our terms was to make this more clear."
Owen Seitel, an attorney for Idell-Seitel Law Firm in San Francisco, which specializes in digital intellectual rights, said the updated language could have far-reaching implications.
"As I understand it, they changed their terms of use to give themselves much broader control in both how they could use your information and the time they could keep it," Seitel said. "If you're an artist or anyone who posts information onto Facebook, it affects you."
The controversy over Facebook's policy has caused some to look at the original policy, now in use. It states Facebook has the right to use any information posted to their Web site "for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise."
Rashmi Rangnath, a copyright law attorney for Public Knowledge, a digital rights advocacy group, said the language in the terms of service means if anyone uploads information to the site it can be used by Facebook any way they see fit. She said these rights were not exclusive, meaning other groups would not be excluded from using the same work for their own purposes.
Lisa Bartlett, a Columbia artist who posts her work to Facebook, said the wording of the policy bothers her.
"That will really make me hesitate before I post more images of my artwork on their Web site," Bartlett said. "I think it seems to be the norm, and people are becoming more and more accepting of it, but I don't agree with it."
Rangnath said Facebook's terms of use are not so different from other sites such as YouTube.
"We think that these terms of service may be expansive," Rangnath said. "They ask the individual to give up a lot, but these terms of service seem to be pretty standard across a lot of Web sites that offer similar sharing services."
Bartlett said she might remove the artwork she currently has on the Web site. But, she said if Facebook used her work for advertising, she would like the exposure, as long as Facebook asked her permission.
"If Facebook took my work and blasted it out to a gazillion people, I would give it to them," Bartlett said. "I would like them to ask first, but it doesn't look like they even do that."
