Privacy expert offers Facebook caution

Following controversy over a change around ownership of content posted to the social-networking website, a Winnipeg privacy expert warned Facebook users their information could be used by the California-based company in ways they never expected.

Until recently, Facebook had a licence to use some material for certain purposes like promoting the site. Those terms of service (TOS) expired, however, if a user removed the information and closed the account.

The new terms, in effect since Feb. 4, removed a key line that stated the licence to use uploaded content in promotional or advertising materials expired automatically if you removed your content.

"Unfortunately, a lot of people don't actually read the legal notices when they're joining Facebook," said Brian Bowman, a Winnipeg business lawyer at Pitblado LLP who specializes in privacy issues. He said Facebook should be clearer in the legal material it provides to users about what will happen to content if users cancel their accounts.

"(The terms) aren't plain English," said Bowman, who added some of the responsibility falls on the user to read the terms and then determine what they're comfortable with.

According to Bowman, by agreeing to Facebook's current terms your information could be used, copied, published, distributed, reformatted or edited by the company for specific purposes.

"In Canada, we have federal privacy legislation... (it) requires that organizations, certainly Canadian organizations, make their privacy practices understandable. And I don't know if this would pass muster essentially with the Canadian privacy law requirements," he said, acknowledging the company is located in the U.S. so the same laws may not apply.

After an influential online publication on Sunday blasted Facebook under the headline, We can do anything we want with your content. Forever, news spread quickly on the blogosphere.

By Monday, the story made the top 10 list of most talked about topics on Twitter Inc.'s micro-blogging service. And three Facebook groups had been created, under the banner "Facebook owns you: Protest the New Changes to the TOS."

A spokesman for Facebook, based in Palo Alto, Calif., tried to quell the concerns.

"We are not claiming and have never claimed ownership of material that users upload. The new terms were clarified to be more consistent with the behaviour of the site," Barry Schnitt said in a statement.

"That is, if you send a message to another user (or post to their wall, etc.), that content might not be removed by Facebook if you delete your account (but can be deleted by your friend)."

He also pointed out that this licence is made subject to the user's privacy settings and it only allows Facebook to use the information in connection with the promotion of the site.

"Users generally expect and understand this behaviour as it has been a common practice for web services since the advent of webmail. For example, if you send a message to a friend on a webmail service, that service will not delete that message from your friend's inbox if you delete your account," said Schnitt.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg also weighed in on the controversy Monday, writing on the Facebook blog that, "Our philosophy that people own their information and control who they share it with has remained constant.

"A lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective of the rights we need to provide this service to you. Over time we will continue to clarify our positions and make the terms simpler."

-- Files from Gabrielle Giroday

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 18, 2009 A6