FYI: Messages about protecting your copyright or privacy rights on Facebook by posting a particular legal notice to your Facebook wall are variants of an item circulated several years ago positing that posting a similar notice on a web site would protect that sites operators from prosecution for piracy. In both cases the claims were erroneous, an expression of the mistaken belief the use of some simple legal talisman — knowing enough to ask the right question or post a pertinent disclaimer — will immunize one from some undesirable legal consequence. The law just doesnt work that way. First off, the problem this ineffective solution supposedly addresses is a non-existent one: Facebook isnt claiming copyright to the personal information, photographs, and other material that their users are posting to the social network. Facebook users cannot retroactively negate any of the privacy or copyright terms they agreed to when they signed up for their accounts, nor can they unilaterally alter or contradict any new privacy or copyright terms instituted by Facebook, simply by posting a contrary legal notice on their Facebook walls. Moreover, the fact that Facebook is now a publicly traded company (i.e., a company that has issued stocks which are traded on the open market) or an open capital entity has nothing to do with copyright protection or privacy rights. Any copyright or privacy agreements users of Facebook have entered into with that company prior to its becoming a publicly traded company or changing its policies remain in effect: they are neither diminished nor enhanced by Facebooks public status. Before you can use Facebook, you must indicate your acceptance of that social networks legal terms, which includes its privacy policy and its terms and policies. You cannot neither alter your acceptance of that agreement nor restrict the rights of entities who are not parties to that agreement simply by posting a notice to your Facebook account, citing the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), or referencing the Berne Convention. If you do not agree with Facebooks stated policies, you have several options: Decline to sign up for a Facebook account. Bilaterally negotiate a modified policy with Facebook. Lobby for Facebook to amend its policies through its Facebook Site Governance section. Cancel your Facebook account.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:09:57 +0000
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