Facebook Privacy Flap

[VenusRising]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/159743/facebooks_privacy_flap_what_really_went_down_and_whats_next.html

Facebook's Privacy Flap: What Really Went Down, and What's Next

By JR Raphael, PC World

Feb 18, 2009 1:53 pm

Facebook may have done an about-face with its policies on using user data, but the social network's struggle to balance business with privacy is far from over.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would revert to its old terms of use in a blog posting late Tuesday night. The decision followed wide-reaching outrage over the service's updated policies on user-generated content. The changes essentially gave Facebook a "perpetual" license to use any uploaded materials within advertising or any number of other venues--even if the user had long since deleted the content, or even deleted the account.

Advocates in Action

Facebook's backtracking announcement came just hours after word broke that the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., intended to file a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over the altered licenses.

"What we sensed was taking place was that Facebook was asserting a greater legal authority over the user-generated content," says EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg. "It represented a fundamental shift in terms of how the company saw its ability to exercise control over what its users were posting, and that really concerned us."

I'm so glad that people stood up and Facebook quickly retreated back to their old ToS. I'll be watching to see what happens.