Facebook owns your content. All of it. Forever.

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Tim Finin <finin () cs umbc edu>
Date: February 15, 2009 10:10:03 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Facebook owns your content. All of it. Forever.

CU's Consumerist has a post on a change in Facebook’s Terms of
Service agreement that became effective on 4 February: Facebook’s
New Terms Of Service: “We Can Do Anything We Want With Your
Content. Forever.” [1]

Both the new Facebook TOS [2] and the previous one [3] made these
aggressive claims on your content.

“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.”

That was bad enough, but at least Facebook relinquished those
rights on your content if you dropped out. But no longer. The
following clause from the old TOS has been dropped.

“You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If
 you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted
 above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that
 the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.”

Just to make it absolutely clear how screwed you are, the new TOS
also adds the following.

“The following sections will survive any termination of your use
 of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your
 Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights,
 Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General
 Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to
 the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and
 Jurisdiction and Other.”
By the way, if you’ve used Facebook in any way since 4 February,
you have already accepted the new TOS.

“We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change or
 delete portions of these Terms at any time without further
 notice. Your continued use of the Facebook Service after any
 such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms.”

And if you want to take them to court, Fugetaboutit.

“Except as set forth in the paragraph below, you agree that all
 claims and disputes between you and Facebook that arise out of
 or relate in any way to the Terms or your use of the Facebook
 Service will be resolved either by (a) binding arbitration by
 a single arbitrator in Santa Clara County, California or (b)
 binding non-appearance based arbitration conducted by
 telephone, online or based solely on written submission.”

All your base are belong to Facebook.

[1] http://consumerist.com/5150175/
[2] http://www.facebook.com/terms#/terms.php?ref=pf
[3] http://web.archive.org/web/20071012215843/www.facebook.com/terms.php




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