The other week, Social Networking website Facebook had made an adjustment to their user Terms of Service. This update stated that any content uploaded to Facebook was now property of the company and could be used and held onto even if the user deletes their account. Once word of this got into the open, bloggers, news stations and even my school’s web radio had been bashing the subject of Facebook now “owning” your information. The Facebook staff held a meeting amongst themselves in response, discussing what should be done and Mark Zuckerberg this morning posted an announcement on the Facebook blog that will be seen by Facebook users next time they log in:
A couple of weeks ago, we revised our terms of use hoping to clarify some parts for our users. Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.
Many of us at Facebook spent most of today discussing how best to move forward. One approach would have been to quickly amend the new terms with new language to clarify our positions further. Another approach was simply to revert to our old terms while we begin working on our next version. As we thought through this, we reached out to respected organizations to get their input.
Going forward, we’ve decided to take a new approach towards developing our terms. We concluded that returning to our previous terms was the right thing for now. As I said yesterday, we think that a lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective so we don’t plan to leave it there for long.
More than 175 million people use Facebook. If it were a country, it would be the sixth most populated country in the world. Our terms aren’t just a document that protect our rights; it’s the governing document for how the service is used by everyone across the world. Given its importance, we need to make sure the terms reflect the principles and values of the people using the service.
Our next version will be a substantial revision from where we are now. It will reflect the principles I described yesterday around how people share and control their information, and it will be written clearly in language everyone can understand. Since this will be the governing document that we’ll all live by, Facebook users will have a lot of input in crafting these terms.
You have my commitment that we’ll do all of these things, but in order to do them right it will take a little bit of time. We expect to complete this in the next few weeks. In the meantime, we’ve changed the terms back to what existed before the February 4th change, which was what most people asked us for and was the recommendation of the outside experts we consulted.
If you’d like to get involved in crafting our new terms, you can start posting your questions, comments and requests in the group we’ve created—Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. I’m looking forward to reading your input.
Mark also is inviting users in the development of the Facebook “Bill of Rights and Responsibilities” so they can voice their say in ToS ammendments and prevent another outrage as such.
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After 19 Years, The Simpsons now comes starting with a new title sequence! The change being brought by the whole idea that even cartoons should be in HD for as the chalkboard reads, “HDTV is worth every cent.”
So is the internet.
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Some people with too much time on their hands set up microwaves to play a holiday tune.
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At a press conference in Baghdad, President Bush demonstrated his ability to duck two shoes thrown at close range. (via AntiWar.com)
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Tags: facebook, internet, privacy, social networking
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