The Facebook TOS Outrage - spread the word and educate
Deja vu all over again.
Please forgive the spelling/grammar etc as I'm doing this on the phone but if I wait to get these words out it will take too long.
The gist.
Facebook's Terms of Service now say something to the effect of as of Feb 4th if you close your account, we reserve the right to keep and use any content left on it forever.
It used to say we can use anything io until an expiration date.. This is the big change. I need to check this more thoroughly when I get home and will add in links.
I see a lot of posts similar to the fear of the Russian takeover of LJ. People leaving and deleting their accounts and planning to.
My point is this:
We as Facebook users made it what it is. We created and built the networks by inviting our friends, family and collegues. We built the content by posting notes, items, photos, videos and to walls. We populated the various apps and games with tons of information and, in many cases, built tons of apps using Facebook's proprietary. Platform.
We connected Facebook to our Livejournals, Flickr, Gmail, picasa, Mobile phones, Pandora, Last.FM, Twitter, LinkedIn and hundreds of other Web 2.0 accounts using apps. What about that data ?
For all intents and purposes, we made Facebook what it is. Can it no longer sustain itself in this economy on the ad model? Then say so. Do they need to charge a fee or find some means of funding usage? Then say so. Don't claim to own my intellectual property and memories due to a TOSs just because you want to lock me in for fear of gods know what.
To the people leaving, I understand. But I do suggest before you do, please take the time to write a well-thought out note to Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg and anyone else there telling them your reasons in great detail and, if comfortable, Post it in public for all to read. Include the phrase "Facebook doesn't own my Digital Lifestream" perhaps as a means of finding these posts.
But I also encourage you to stay. Spend the next few days educating your friends with intelligent articles and commentary on what Facebook is doing and why it is wrong. Encourage them to posy and diseminate this meme of information on why owning your digital lifestream (or whatever you want to call it) for the purposes of resale and reuse to anyone and everyone is wrong. Then encourage them to read the TOS themself and submit feedback to Facebook via the feedback link.
Since we built this several million strong network of contacts, we can also communicate to this Global Frequency and hope they too will demand recognition for what we created. We ackowledge the Facebook platform and architecture has presently won the social network war but that does not mean they own the civilian casualties and spoils.
If in the end change does not happen, Facebook does not change the TOS, join and show a firm, active and quick commitment to the Open Web Initiative, or show some other acknowledgement of their members' contribution only then, perhaps, would I suggest everyone backup what they can and leave to whatever enclaves they can find.
Facebook took no such pledge of "Do No Evil" and this never set any expectations of such.
One would hope they'd have a desire to set an example.
As you're spreading the word, keep in mind Facebook has a great many famous and powerful figures in acting, music, business, technology, and politics.
One point that occurred to me is that I wonder with President Obama utilizing YouTube to communicate to his employees and so heavily utilizing Facebook for his campaign, how he would feel about a company stating that they own any and all content of his citizens and constituents lives for reuse and resale at well whether they pot out through deletion or not.
What I fear is everything privacy locked. Does that mean Facebook owns all that as well?
I wonder what all those celebrities who brought their social network to Facebook think about that.
Spread the word and educate.
Please forgive the spelling/grammar etc as I'm doing this on the phone but if I wait to get these words out it will take too long.
The gist.
Facebook's Terms of Service now say something to the effect of as of Feb 4th if you close your account, we reserve the right to keep and use any content left on it forever.
It used to say we can use anything io until an expiration date.. This is the big change. I need to check this more thoroughly when I get home and will add in links.
I see a lot of posts similar to the fear of the Russian takeover of LJ. People leaving and deleting their accounts and planning to.
My point is this:
We as Facebook users made it what it is. We created and built the networks by inviting our friends, family and collegues. We built the content by posting notes, items, photos, videos and to walls. We populated the various apps and games with tons of information and, in many cases, built tons of apps using Facebook's proprietary. Platform.
We connected Facebook to our Livejournals, Flickr, Gmail, picasa, Mobile phones, Pandora, Last.FM, Twitter, LinkedIn and hundreds of other Web 2.0 accounts using apps. What about that data ?
For all intents and purposes, we made Facebook what it is. Can it no longer sustain itself in this economy on the ad model? Then say so. Do they need to charge a fee or find some means of funding usage? Then say so. Don't claim to own my intellectual property and memories due to a TOSs just because you want to lock me in for fear of gods know what.
To the people leaving, I understand. But I do suggest before you do, please take the time to write a well-thought out note to Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg and anyone else there telling them your reasons in great detail and, if comfortable, Post it in public for all to read. Include the phrase "Facebook doesn't own my Digital Lifestream" perhaps as a means of finding these posts.
But I also encourage you to stay. Spend the next few days educating your friends with intelligent articles and commentary on what Facebook is doing and why it is wrong. Encourage them to posy and diseminate this meme of information on why owning your digital lifestream (or whatever you want to call it) for the purposes of resale and reuse to anyone and everyone is wrong. Then encourage them to read the TOS themself and submit feedback to Facebook via the feedback link.
Since we built this several million strong network of contacts, we can also communicate to this Global Frequency and hope they too will demand recognition for what we created. We ackowledge the Facebook platform and architecture has presently won the social network war but that does not mean they own the civilian casualties and spoils.
If in the end change does not happen, Facebook does not change the TOS, join and show a firm, active and quick commitment to the Open Web Initiative, or show some other acknowledgement of their members' contribution only then, perhaps, would I suggest everyone backup what they can and leave to whatever enclaves they can find.
Facebook took no such pledge of "Do No Evil" and this never set any expectations of such.
One would hope they'd have a desire to set an example.
As you're spreading the word, keep in mind Facebook has a great many famous and powerful figures in acting, music, business, technology, and politics.
One point that occurred to me is that I wonder with President Obama utilizing YouTube to communicate to his employees and so heavily utilizing Facebook for his campaign, how he would feel about a company stating that they own any and all content of his citizens and constituents lives for reuse and resale at well whether they pot out through deletion or not.
What I fear is everything privacy locked. Does that mean Facebook owns all that as well?
I wonder what all those celebrities who brought their social network to Facebook think about that.
Spread the word and educate.