Facebook flip-flop raises content ownership questions

After receiving thousands of complaints about changes in its terms of service, Facebook reverted the terms back to the version prior to the changes. The new terms granted the Web site control over posted content even after the content was deleted.

The popular consumer-advocacy blog Consumerist.com brought the changes to the attention of many Facebook users. A Facebook group, called People Against the new Terms of Service, was created and then joined by more than 90,000 users.

Sculpture major Ben Lambert said he worried about posted photos being stored and then disseminated without his knowledge.

“It’s definitely a Big Brother thing,” Lambert said. “I don’t like the idea of an image I uploaded three years ago being saved on some server somewhere.”

Lambert said although he did not like the idea of Web sites like Facebook storing information, there are legitimate reasons for doing so.

“I can understand how they would do that because in a way they are also protecting themselves from litigation by keeping track of what is actually put on the site,” Lambert said. “As a user of Facebook though, I really don’t like it. It makes me kind of uneasy.”

Painting and printmaking major Patrick Quinn said he has concerns over the use of items he posts on Facebook, but he also said there are reasons the Web site’s content should be monitored.

“I can see tracing criminals through Facebook, or pedophiles . how that can be a helpful thing,” Quinn said.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, made a statement on The Facebook Blog to address users’ concerns.

“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,” Zuckerberg stated. “Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.”

Quinn said a lot of artists he knows use Facebook to spread images of their artwork quickly and that it is scary to think that the Web site could control those images even after they have been deleted.

Lambert and Quinn both had concerns about the use of uploaded photographs being used for advertising on the Web site without users’ knowledge or consent.

Ultimately, many of the privacy issues surrounding information and photographs posted on the Internet should be common sense, according to Quinn.

“If you have concerns with privacy, you have no business having a Facebook account,” Quinn said. “Yeah it’s creepy, but that’s the Internet.”