UPDATED 08:15 EDT / MARCH 19 2012

Facebook’s Updated SRR Favors Ads

Facebook, the social networking giant, is proposing some changes in their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities – an important document that describes their relationship with users and others who interact with Facebook.  According to Facebook’s anounement, most of the changes that would take place are administrative, such as changing “Privacy Policy” with “Data Use Policy” and “Share Links” to “Social Plugins”.  But the main point of the change is to make their policies clearer for users.

Some of the changes are:

  • Sharing Your Content and Information. We’ve updated this language to be clearer and consistent with what has long been reflected in our Data Use Policy and our practices – that when you, or friends you have authorized to see your information, use an App, you are sharing your info with that App, which is what you consented to when you installed the App.
  • Safety. In this section, we have changed the language from “hateful” content to “hate speech” because we think the term “hate speech” better captures our policy on prohibited content, which hasn’t changed. This is also consistent with our new “Community Standards”.
  • Special Provisions Applicable to Social Plugins. This section previously applied to Share Links, but those provisions also apply to the use of all Social Plugins. Therefore we have replaced references to Share Links with Social Plugins.
  • Special Provisions Applicable to Software. We want to ensure our products, which may include downloadable products, are current. We have added this section to give you notice that we may provide upgrades and updates to your downloaded products as they become available. Additionally, we have included language that prohibits users from trying to extract protected source code from our products unless we have granted the user express permission.

“We think these updates will help you understand more about how Facebook works,” said the Facebook statement. “As part of our site governance process, you have a chance to review these proposed updates and give us feedback by commenting on them before we finalize the changes. Please review the proposed materials by using the links below.”

“Additionally, to view a document that highlights the changes, please view the “tracked changes” English version below. You also can read the current Statement of Rights and Responsibilities here. Please leave any comments you may have by 5:00 PM PDT on March 22, 2012.”

Change For Ads

Although Facebook stated that the changes happening are more administrative, you can’t help but think that these changes would favor the advertisers more than the users.  Just look at the change from “Privacy Policy” to “Data Use Policy”  it makes them look like a carrier network tracking how much data you consume.  And why would Facebook track your data consumption when it’s a free service?

A report from First Post suggests that “ the word play is interesting and it’s quite clear that the site has realised that users are sharing a lot of data such as links, videos and photos via the social networking site, which could be a big boon for advertisers who seek to understand how users interact on the web vis-a-vis the social networking site.”

It’s another point of integration for Facebook to take in consumer data, and until all the reasons are clear behind their intentions, concerns will continue to be raised over changes made to this popular network.

Change For A Cause

The change may also be good for certain user, as Facebook is doing something about cyber bullying.  Facebook is avidly against posting hate speeches on their platform, or putting up pornographic content, as well as spreading malware and using their service for denial of service attacks. They have a huge disclaimer for this, which reads,

“WE TRY TO KEEP FACEBOOK UP, BUG-FREE, AND SAFE, BUT YOU USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE ARE PROVIDING FACEBOOK AS IS WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT FACEBOOK WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, ACCESSIBLE, UNINTERRUPTED, SAFE, OR SECURE OR ERROR-FREE OR THAT FACEBOOK WILL ALWAYS FUNCTION WITHOUT DISRUPTIONS, DELAYS OR IMPERFECTIONS. FACEBOOK IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS, CONTENT, INFORMATION, OR DATA OF THIRD PARTIES, AND YOU RELEASE US, OUR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS FROM ANY CLAIMS AND DAMAGES, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH ANY CLAIM YOU HAVE AGAINST ANY SUCH THIRD PARTIES.”

Way Confusing?

Despite all the updates and changes Facebook’s making to its terms, it still leaves some scratching their heads.  What confuses me about Facebook is that they say that you own the rights to your account, but then they have the right to terminate your account without your knowledge should any of their rules be violated. While Facebook maintains control over their platform, the processes behind limiting or blocking a user should be transparent as well.

Another point of contention is Facebook’s ability to keep your posted content, even after you delete your account, which also seems to go against the idea of user rights.  So even if you want to delete those embarrassing photos, Facebook has the right to keep them, according to their terms and conditions, and they will still be available in their database.

Privacy Issue

And the most talked about issue on Facebook’s platform is still privacy.  The topic only gets more interesting when you bring in app permissions, and their interaction with Facebook to spur their own on-site activity.  With changes made to Facebook user profiles, especially the new Timeline feature, the world must once again re-think the nature of the apps we use in a public forum, and how they benefit us in the long run.

 


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