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Facebook backs down, reverses on user information policy

Dr_Patrick

Dr_Patrick

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(CNN) -- Under fire from tens of thousands of users, the social networking site Facebook said early Wednesday it is reverting to its old policy on user information -- for now.

The site posted a brief message on users' home pages that said it was returning to its previous "Terms of Use" policy "while we resolve the issues that people have raised."

The "Terms of Use" is the legalese tacked on to the bottom of most Web sites that details what the site's owners can do with the information that users provide.

Facebook, the Web's most popular social networking site, has been caught in a content-rights battle after revealing earlier this month that it was granting itself permanent rights to users' photos, wall posts and other information even after a user closed an account.

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I'm actually quite glad and impressed by the results of this. I think it was an incredibly underhanded maneuver by Facebook to alter their Terms & Conditions like that. It's good to see that people still have some amount of power. Stuff like this is actually the reason that I don't ever enter any sort of online writing/art submission contest because regardless of whether you win or lose they get the rights to your stuff.
 
They'll find a way to do what they want to.
 
Ikari said:
They'll find a way to do what they want to.
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Perhaps, but I have hope due to the fact that they crumbled under pressure this time, which indicates that they actually care about what people think. A company like Facebook can't really afford bad press because they are still actively competing with Myspace.
 
This is just another depressing example of a mob of uninformed people creating mass hysteria.

Facebook reassures users in wake of service terms change

"It is common language in every website because their cut-throat lawyer says you need to cover yourself," said Future of Privacy Forum director Jules Polonetsky.

"This doesn't mean that Facebook can make a mini-series on your life or write a book about you, but they might be able to create a feed that lets your friends on Twitter know what you're doing. Folks should just calm down."
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Internet users want full ownership and control of their online information while simultaneously being able to collect email addresses, phone numbers, pictures and other data from others, Zuckerberg notes.

"These two positions are at odds with each other," Zuckerberg wrote.

"There is no system today that enables me to share my email address with you and then simultaneously lets me control who you share it with and also lets you control what services you share it with."

Facebook said modifications made about two weeks ago to its terms of service let the website work with the realities of sharing information online and don't permit it to commandeer content from members.

"We are not claiming and have never claimed ownership of material that users upload," Facebook said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

"Any limitations that a user puts on display of the relevant content are respected by Facebook."
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Does this mean I can post breastfeeding pics now? :lol:
 
I was legitimately concerned! I seen them take my photograph and doctor bunny ears, and bunny blush, and bunny nose on me.....

oh wait.....

that was here.........
 
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