Facebook: 5 years of selling you
The Internet (Abridged)
Clint Fullen
Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Opinion
Today is the fifth anniversary of the launch of Facebook. A half-decade ago, Mark Zuckerberg founded the site that would capture the attention of millions of college students.
However, time is not the only thing given away to the site. After five years, Facebook now owns the rights to a massive amount of personal information. In fact, the company has peculiar rights to anything users display.
Whether users are aware of it, they have signed a contract with Facebook Inc. No pen is put to paper, but by simply logging into an account, a client agrees to comply with the "Terms of Use."
According to those Terms of Use, users give the site's company the right "to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute" any content posted. Facebook then may use these materials "for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the site."
Sure, the agreement is no deal with the devil, but the clause is detailed enough to allow users to scratch their heads.
Why so thorough? Why does Facebook need commercial rights to everything?
Any picture, song lyric or "wall post" that has been added to Facebook is at the mercy of the social network kings. An uploaded video may be used as a television ad. If a user is to become famous, their college photos could potentially be published in a Facebook book.
If there are cultures that believe photographs steal fragments of the soul, then Facebook would be their eternal damnation.
In return, users are given back a "limited license" to the site solely for "non-commercial use," according to the Terms of Use. After all, Facebook wants to make certain it is the only one able to market a user's likeness.
However, there is a way to end the cycle of exploitation. The Terms of Use state that once user content is removed from the site, the license to the content will "automatically expire."
Facebook will retain copies of the materials, but at least the price tag will be removed from the user content. Then again, if users were genuinely concerned about their privacy, they probably would be more tactful about broadcasting personal information.
This is just the penalty people must pay, and the fee might change at any moment. Facebook reports it reserves the right to modify its Terms of Use "at any time without further notice."
No one seems to mind, though. Facebook reports having more than 150 million active users. More than half of that number does not attend college, according to the site.
Who knew looking at pictures of people who are nearly strangers could be so much fun?
Mark Zuckerberg, apparently. And now he owns a piece of all of the pictures.
Clint Fullen is a columnist for The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every other Wednesday.
However, time is not the only thing given away to the site. After five years, Facebook now owns the rights to a massive amount of personal information. In fact, the company has peculiar rights to anything users display.
Whether users are aware of it, they have signed a contract with Facebook Inc. No pen is put to paper, but by simply logging into an account, a client agrees to comply with the "Terms of Use."
According to those Terms of Use, users give the site's company the right "to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute" any content posted. Facebook then may use these materials "for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the site."
Sure, the agreement is no deal with the devil, but the clause is detailed enough to allow users to scratch their heads.
Why so thorough? Why does Facebook need commercial rights to everything?
Any picture, song lyric or "wall post" that has been added to Facebook is at the mercy of the social network kings. An uploaded video may be used as a television ad. If a user is to become famous, their college photos could potentially be published in a Facebook book.
If there are cultures that believe photographs steal fragments of the soul, then Facebook would be their eternal damnation.
In return, users are given back a "limited license" to the site solely for "non-commercial use," according to the Terms of Use. After all, Facebook wants to make certain it is the only one able to market a user's likeness.
However, there is a way to end the cycle of exploitation. The Terms of Use state that once user content is removed from the site, the license to the content will "automatically expire."
Facebook will retain copies of the materials, but at least the price tag will be removed from the user content. Then again, if users were genuinely concerned about their privacy, they probably would be more tactful about broadcasting personal information.
This is just the penalty people must pay, and the fee might change at any moment. Facebook reports it reserves the right to modify its Terms of Use "at any time without further notice."
No one seems to mind, though. Facebook reports having more than 150 million active users. More than half of that number does not attend college, according to the site.
Who knew looking at pictures of people who are nearly strangers could be so much fun?
Mark Zuckerberg, apparently. And now he owns a piece of all of the pictures.
Clint Fullen is a columnist for The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every other Wednesday.
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