Facebook's New Terms Of Service: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever."

[Gio Takahashi]

http://consumerist.com/5150175/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever

This post has generated a lot of responses, including from Facebook. Check them out here. (http://consumerist.com/5154745/facebook-clarifies-terms-of-service-we-do-not-own-your-stuff-forever) Facebook's terms of service (http://consumerist.com/tag/terms-of-service/) (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.
Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later.* (http://consumerist.com/5150175/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever#footnote1) Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants (http://www.facebook.com/terms#/terms.php?ref=pf) with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof. That language is the same as in the old TOS, but there was an important couple of lines at the end (http://web.archive.org/web/20071012215843/www.facebook.com/terms.php) of that section that have been removed:

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. Furthermore, the "Termination" section near the end of the TOS states:

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. Make sure you never upload anything you don't feel comfortable giving away forever, because it's Facebook's now.
(Note that as several readers have pointed out, this seems to be subject to your privacy settings, so anything you've protected from full public view doesn't seem to be usable in other ways regardless.)
Oh, you also agree to arbitration (http://consumerist.com/5148154/mandatory-binding-arbitration-the-worst-choose-your-own-adventure-ever), naturally. Have fun with that.
Update: Several Facebook groups have formed to protest the new TOS:
"People Against the new Terms of Service (TOS)" (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?sid=a6cdf0abf38c1d67123c77fc196e546c&gid=77069107432)
"FACEBOOK OWNS YOU: Protest the New Changes to the TOS!" (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=50848058709)
"Those against Facebook's new TOS!" (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51181252769&ref=mf)

Of course, anything you upload to the internet, it is likely that it will be forever kept on the internet anyway.

[Arainach]

This article was already obsolete by the time you posted it.

http://consumerist.com/5154745/facebook-clarifies-terms-of-service-we-do-not-own-your-stuff-forever

[Z]

I luckily never joined Facebook and I can't help but wonder about the reason for the TOS change. This certainly hasn't aided my opinion of the organization, though. I was on MySpace for a couple of months before ultimately deciding to end my account there and now with employers using such sites as a source for hiring and background checks, I'm glad I am no longer a member. It just seems more like a self-authored catalog system of people than it is a fun little site for you and your friends to enjoy at this point.

[Seegtease]

My question is: why would they do that?

[Bloodcinder]

This article was already obsolete by the time you posted it.
That.

[Seegtease]

This.

Fixed!

[Z]

Darn you and your glorified QFT!

Darn you and your glorified QFT!

:qft:

[Bloodcinder]

LMFAO

Also, this morning Facebook reverted to their old TOS while waiting to find out what they should do.

[deathofcheese]

Hasn't Facebook always said that from the moment you upload or post something to their site, they own it and it'll never really go away? I remember hearing about this when I was back at Erskine.

[Bloodcinder]

It's much ado about nothing. People (especially users of social networking sites) find the tiniest things to bitch about all the while relying on the service as if their lives depend on it.

[Trogdor]

I just went through that article above, "Mandatory Binding Arbitration: The Worst Choose Your Own Adventure Ever", and it's a pretty fun read (in a depressing sort of way).

I loved this in the comment section:

Oh man, I was eaten by a Grue. Just like real arbitration.

[Seegtease]

Actually, come to think of it, I think Facebook should be able to have whatever rules they want. Nobody is forced to register there. It's a free luxury site.

The thing that does bother me is that people agreed to old ToS, and suddenly they change, and are bound? That's not reasonable, I think. Glad to see they reverted to old ToS.

[Z]

I agree - I think if a company changes their terms of service, the users affected by it should have to re-agree or be given the chance to terminate their membership before the new TOS takes effect.

[Seegtease]

I mean what, could they add, "You will pay us 100 dollars a month, and you can no longer cancel" and everybody could be bound to it? C'mon. You can't ever change ToS without making user's re-agree or in this case, take down some of their stuff first.

[chefTENGU]

Although a lot of the times, terms of service say something like "we reserve the right to change our rules at whim and without notice. Go eat poop you cat."

[Arainach]

But any such measures are illegal and totally unenforceable.

[Seegtease]

So the new changes (now revoked) couldn't have been enforced?

[Arainach]

Correct.

[Seegtease]

Why the fuss, then?

[Bloodcinder]

Why the fuss, then?

It's much ado about nothing. People (especially users of social networking sites) find the tiniest things to bitch about all the while relying on the service as if their lives depend on it.