Is Facebook really using its new terms of service to own your data?
Facebook introduced a new terms of service agreement earlier this month for its 175 million users. But the changes went mostly unnoticed until the Consumerist blog published an article on Sunday sayng the new terms allow the social network to "do anything we want with your content, forever." As is usually the case with such sensational headlines, the reality of the situation is far more complex. So here’s a quick look at what the issues were, and whether or not you should be concerned.
For starters, Facebook’s terms of service is relatively similar to Google’s - and many other web services - as an actual lawyer (not just an armchair blogger) pointed out yesterday. But the revised terms do go a bit further than those offered by some other major web properties, in that they seemingly give Facebook rights to data you upload from other sites (like your photos, including from other photo sites like Flickr?) as well as rights to data contained on sites that let you share information back to Facebook.
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