Facebook is Pimping your Children

Now that Harvard’s Berkman Center has reassured us that child predators are not a threat online, we’ve got a new hustler to worry about. And this time it’s Facebook. Buried in the Facebook Terms of Use is this little read and considered clause:

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

Yes Facebook can SELL little Susie’s beach picture to Playboy for their Facebook Hotties edition. Yesterday, an astute follower of my burgeoning Facebook site pointed out to me that I have freely given Facebook the absolute irrevocable right to SELL anything I post to ANYONE ANYWHERE in the world. (This person is not a lawyer, mind you, and they say lawyers ruin everything). Not only can Facebook sell my content, they can SUBLICENSE it to anyone anytime without any further consent on my part or on the part of the person portrayed in whatever it is that I have posted.

So gentle Facebook readers, fans, posters, devotees, tell everyone you know that anything you post on Facebook now BELONGS TO FACEBOOK. They can sell it. They can license it to others.

Those cute baby pictures—GAP KIDS. Your one-of-a-kind video documentary on the Bush White House—CNN. Your son or daughter’s half-naked drunken orgy—HARVARD ADMISSIONS. Those pictures of you skinny dipping at camp in 1972…okay okay I know, well who would want those? Perhaps the AARP NEWSLETTER.

You and your children are hereby warned. Tell everyone you know: Facebook is THE MAN. They are George Orwell’s 1984 and the Bush Administration ALL IN ONE. They want your children. They want you. Content content content is king. It all belongs to Facebook. And you just gave it to them for FREE!!!

6 Replies to "Facebook is Pimping your Children"

  • Pam Hasegawa
    January 30, 2009 (12:07 pm)

    Hi James,

    May I forward this information about Facebook widely to my lists just as it appears above?

    Pam

  • Desiree
    January 30, 2009 (12:48 pm)

    James,

    Taken in context, this is not as draconian as you purport it to be. You excerpted out a portion in the middle of the agreement. The first sentence establishes the REASON for the second–to be able to facilitate the posting and storage of information on the site. The sentences that follow your excerpt specifically say:

    “Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content.”

    And the sentence before that specifically states that the minute you remove the content, whatever rights it claimed over the content (to be able to run the site), also expires:

    “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.”

    James, surely you know that almost everything taken out of context is subject to misunderstanding.

    Much of modern life is predicated on trust. That goes to modern institutions and companies like Facebook, whose business is built on trust. We have no reason to believe that that trust has been violated. Or that it will be violated in the future.

    At a time when people are already skittish about trusted institutions, what is to be gained by pulling down another institution/business?

    I’m surprised and disappointed that you are fear-mongering in this way.

    For those who care here is the whole context:

    “When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. 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. Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content.”

    Desiree

  • James R. Marsh
    January 30, 2009 (4:56 pm)

    Pam (and others), everything on Childlaw is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/) which basically means that you are free to SHARE — to copy, distribute, and display this entry and to REMIX — to make derivative works, as long as you ATTRIBUTE the work to the Childlaw blog. The best way to do this is to quote all or part of this entry and include a link to it.

  • Fellmeth
    January 30, 2009 (7:57 pm)

    The FaceBook self-declared right to market and disseminate all posted items is not much assuaged by Desiree’s apologia. The fact that withdrawal of the posting terminates future marketing/dispensation is hardly much help once the first level of that dissemination has occurred. It is now in third party hands. And is Facebook going to retract rights to items already disseminated? How? Nor is the balm of optimism and faith she urges of much solace either. We rely on what… the discretion of the corporate interests running Facebook? Including future ownership and management? It seems to me that James has raised a serious issue concerning privacy rights of our children. They do not communicate to Facebook with the reasonable expectation that their submissions are subject to such use and marketing. This self-proclaimed license is a bold declaration of intellectual property expropriation license. It warrants serious thought. The warning is prudently sounded. Bob Fellmeth

  • James R. Marsh
    February 6, 2009 (9:40 pm)

    Just now an ever astute reader pointed out that since this blog entry was posted a mere week ago, Facebook has changed its Terms of Use. While I know this blog has influence with the man, I’m not sure this post resulted in a change for the better.
    Facebook’s newly improved hot-off-the-pixels 2009 Terms of Use reads as follows:

    You are solely responsible for the User Content that you Post on or through the Facebook Service. 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. You represent and warrant that you have all rights and permissions to grant the foregoing licenses.

    The good news is the man is reading this blog. The bad news is the man has decided to EXPAND his right to your content. In addition to all it’s old rights (they were so 2008), Facebook can now “publish, stream, store, retain, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, adapt, and distribute through multiple tiers” both your content and ANY CONTENT YOU ENABLE YOUR FRIENDS TO POST and (my first year contracts professor always said to beware of those “ands”) “to use your name, likeness and image FOR ANY PURPOSE, including COMMERCIAL OR ADVERTISING.”
    Thank goodness we now know where we stand with Facebook and which direction they are heading. Not only do they own your content, give them another week and they will own your SOUL!! If the man is reading this, and I’m sure he is, you better get back to work on those Terms of Use.

  • Life
    February 26, 2009 (1:45 pm)

    Hi All.

    Well well well…mum is going to be mighty upset when she finds little Jhonnys mags under the bed only to find big sisters face superimposed on the latest filth with legs astride….
    —–