Facebook Privacy Changes In Five Minutes or Less

Last week, Facebook sent a notice to all users explaining changes to the company’s privacy policy. Many users became worried that the general statements made in the new policy meant that their personal information and intellectual property would become owned by Facebook, and a quasi-legal “Copyright Protection Declaration” began being posted amongst the user base.

In reality, no changes have been made to Facebook’s rights to your content, and indeed, your rights are protected by copyright law. In a report from ABC News, Brad Shear, an attorney and blogger said the message was “misleading and not true.” He said that when you agree to Facebook’s terms of use you provide Facebook a ”non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any content you post. You do not need to make any declarations about copyright issues since the law already protects you.  The privacy declaration [in this message] is worthless and does not mean anything.”

These policy changes will go into effect after a comment period closes tomorrow morning. Assuming Facebook keeps the proposed changes, here is what you can expect.

New Info For Advertisers – Facebook spelled out the types of topics that will be shared with advertisers as interests when users like a page, including products and brands they like, religion, political views and health status. For instance, if Facebook users join a group that offers support for herpes or other health conditions, they are likely to see ads from pharmacuetical companies that offer remedies.

Availability of Deleted Content – When you delete an item from your Timeline, it may remain visible to others who saw it in the past. “Anyone in the audience of those posts or who can see a connection may still see it elsewhere, like on someone else’s timeline or in search results,”

Recording of Banned Accounts – After an account has been closed for violating the terms of service, Facebook will retain the records for at least a year. The 90-day limit for keeping a user’s account information after an account is deleted remains unchanged.

Unlimited Email Requests to Non-Members – If you invite a friend to join Facebook by making a request on the site, Facebook can spam your friends with unlimited reminders to join. Previously, reminders were limited to two.

No Timeline for Brands – Personal Timelines may not be primarily used for promoting a user’s business or product. Instead, members must use Facebook Pages, which are designed for business.

No More User Voting on Policy – Facebook has eliminated voting on proposed policy changes by users, a method that hasn’t worked in the past. In the last round of policy changes , users submitted thousands of gripes about Timeline and other issues that were never up for discussion, instead of commenting on the proposed changes. Going forward, any changes will be open for comment for seven days before they can be put into effect. Facebook is not obligated to make changes based on user feedback.

Post By Chris Warden (49 Posts)

Chris Warden is a seasoned entrepreneur and CEO. Starting his entrepreneurial career at age 19, he has performed in numerous capacities owning and managing both offline and online companies. Chris now serves as CEO of Spread Effect, a leading content marketing and publishing company. He is a member of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) and often writes on topics of content marketing, SEO, and business development. He’s passionate about building and mentoring world-class teams and loves to chat with like-minded individuals. You can connect with Chris via Linkedin, Twitter - @ChrisWarden_SE, or Google+.

Website: → Spread Effect

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