Facebook – Should You?

After spending the last five months figuring out this Social Media thing, getting set up on Facebook, finding an expert for smARTist Telesummit 2009, and encouraging artists to jump into this vast and ever expanding ocean, the predictably unpredictable  world of all things online has thrown me, and you, not just a curve ball, but…a possible meteor. 

It all started on Twitter

I know, I know…not another Social Media site! Except, Twitter is a hotbed of information and connection that just doesn’t quit. It’s also, once you get the hang of it, a much faster way to spread yourself around the globe.

And yesterday I saw a tweet that made my hair stand on end: Facebook CEO changes the TOS (Terms of Service).

Now, let me be perfectly clear: this just happened! And it’s the reason why staying ahead of the curve online is critical. You just never know when the next shoe will drop.

When Facebook stated that it will no longer allow users to delete their data when they leave the service, the crowd roared and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was forced to post a response justifying FB’s “right” to do anything it wants with any of content or images you post on FB.

Back during my smARTist Telesummit, artists were already asking about the legal safety of their images if posted on Facebook, and the expert’s response was that FB needed permission that would allow them to have you post your images on their servers, but that you, the artist, still retained all copyrights.

So, ok, no big deal. Just a lot of legalese that sites are required to post to cover their bums.

Not so fast

But that was then. Now it’s a whole different ball game.

CEO Zuckerman has inserted a new clause in the TOS that says FB can do anything at all with your content and images, and you have no say in the matter.

What really concerned everyone is that they took out the following lines, which were in the earlier TOS:

“You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.”

Now they claim:

“The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction and Other.”

In other words: your hands are legally bound and you can do nothing to stop FB from using your material any way they choose.

But, as many have pointed out, including the CEO, they aren’t about to abuse this clause and actually use your images in a way that you would not want, because that would violate your trust in FB.

But the question is: do you really want to trust a Big Company?

I suggest you read these other blogs, especially this one where I comment (about 38 comments down the line) and right after me is a salient comment by Rana posted Feb. 16th at 3:24 pm PST 

I sent all of this material onto our smARTist resident arts lawyer, Leonard DuBoff. His response was that this would take a good deal of research and expert analysis, and would I like to hire his firm to do this.

Which told me that there’s nothing cut and dried about this. And I’m not sure any of us have anything more going for us than our guts. For now, I’m staying in Facebook.

I’m banking on Zuckerman listening to the uproar and altering the TOS. I even tried to start a Twitter hashtag movement #facebookrevolt, but the response has been less than deafening.