We’ve heard that Facebook owns any material added to its website. Is this true?
Facebook did technically own the content that you added to its website. However it has changed some of its terms and conditions (do you ever read them?)
When you join Facebook you enter information about yourself. This is called “Publicly available information” and includes your name, profile picture, gender, current city, networks, friend list, and Pages. The theory is that this information makes it easier for friends and family to connect with you. The publicly available information is visible to people visiting your profile page, and Facebook-enhanced applications (like applications you use or websites you connect to using Facebook) may access this information. It does not allow people without Facebook accounts to contact you.
You can change your settings to restrict how much information can be seen by other people. Go to settings / privacy settings to make any changes.
Facebook does state that “You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings.”
However “For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos ("IP content"), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook ("IP License"). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it. “
Beware “When you publish content or information using the "everyone" setting, it means that everyone, including people off of Facebook, will have access to that information and we may not have control over what they do with it."
When you signed up for your Facebook account you agreed to these t&c:
“You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.”
See also
http://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php
http://www.broadstuff.com/archives/324-Facebook-Copyright-have-you-read-the-small-print.html
http://consumerist.com/2009/02/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever.html
http://www.facebook.com/terms.php
Labels: facebook
