don't post pics on facebook

ryan s

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i was reading theonlinephotographer blog, and mike mentioned that facebook's Terms of Service have changed.

ill break it down for you: anything and everything you post on facebook becomes their property. you lose all rights to it. even if you delete your account and take down your photos, they still belong to facebook.

check out this comment by mark roberts to sum up the consequences:
Several people have pointed out that it's easy for anyone to appropriate your images once they're on the web. This misses the point. If a high school student in Nebraska uses your photo on his web page, you may be annoyed but you haven't lost any of your rights or any money. If Coca Cola used your image in an ad without paying you could sue and get money—and unlike the high school student, they have enough money to make it worth your while. What Facebook's TOS does if give them the rights as well as the image: They can use your image in an ad and, even though they have enough money to be worth suing, you can't do so. Depending on the terms in the TOS, Facebook might even be able to sell your image to Coca Cola for an ad.

Finally, it's worth noting that the TOS applies to all media. Although photographers seem to be the ones getting most upset, it may be musicians who have the most to lose. Imagine some band that becomes the next U2 or Coldplay. They get a recording contract and have a big hit...with a song that has also been on the Facebook page they started when no one had heard of them. The amount of money at stake there would make all our photographs' value look like pocket change by comparison.

Facebook actively promotes itself to bands, offering 'unlimited uploads' of music. Given the growth of social media, it's not impossible that one of these bands could someday make it big."
you can read more at photoattorney


nice job, facebook :bs2:
 

retroshark

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personally, i dont post anything on facebook that i wouldnt want someone to own or use. like, i dont have any pics of myself or friends worth their time to use in an add etc etc.

also, if i ever posted anything original, like artwork or the likes, i would not put it on facebook, or id watermark it.

i think at the end of the day, if you were to post music, photos of artwork etc on facebook, and the company decided to use it for their own bennefit (i highly doubt that is their motive here) then in a court of law, if the original artist can prove they are such, then most likely, facebooks argument would not hold up.

i think people worry about this stuff too much personally.
 

JMillerUA6

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If they change their TOS, don't they have to make everyone re-agree to it? I don't remember seeing anything on the site saying that their TOS changed. Seems like they should be providing full disclosure to the members.
 

ryan s

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actually...they are going to go back to their old ToS, which are just as bad.

basically you are giving them license rights to your photos, and not paying you a dime. you do the work, they get to use the images however they like.

photoattorney said:
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 . . . .
 

ryan s

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i think at the end of the day, if you were to post music, photos of artwork etc on facebook, and the company decided to use it for their own bennefit (i highly doubt that is their motive here) then in a court of law, if the original artist can prove they are such, then most likely, facebooks argument would not hold up.

i think people worry about this stuff too much personally.
that is exactly their motive. i have a more recent report in post #4. they get free content. they can sell it to others (sub-license). they can make money while you dont.

how would you feel if you favorite picture you took ends up on a commercial on TV? you get $0 every time it runs. it wouldnt even say "photo by..." or a song you wrote becomes a #1 hit...you get $0.

proving you were the original artist doesnt matter when you sign away your rights by posting on FB.
If they change their TOS, don't they have to make everyone re-agree to it? I don't remember seeing anything on the site saying that their TOS changed. Seems like they should be providing full disclosure to the members.
im not sure about that, actually.

everything is there in the ToS...just buried in legalese. how many times have we clicked OK when installing a program, skipping over the EULA?
 
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ryan s

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the legal term is "indemnify"

you cannot hold FB responsible for any actions brought against yourself by someone else. FB will not be held responsible for what happens to you (if your pic becomes front page news on the NY Times, for example, and you want to sue FB for licensing your pic to the paper).
 

JMillerUA6

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lol......all the time......

FB is public info anyway. More and more employers and schools are using it to investigate people.

Bottom line is if you don't want the world to know, don't post it.
 

ryan s

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yeah, we had some HUGE FB fiascos back in college...not to mention all the ones in the media around the country. well...my university was nazi-like, so maybe thats different. (i dont use that term loosely, either).

thats why i dont have a FB/myspace page. even being on site like this and have an employer looking at it wouldn't be good, but i would feel violated. personal life away from work should not judge whether or not you can do your job.

so when i google my name, all i see is my graduation announcement. perfect. and im the only one of "me" in the world so there are no mistakes in identifying me.
 
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