Good point. Despite the controversy, most people are going to keep using Facebook. I don’t see that changing but perhaps this controversy will have created more of an awareness about the importance and implications of a terms of use and the licenses they contain.

Zuckerberg’s post does clarify Facebook’s intentions but the terms of use should reflect those intentions better. These terms of use don’t and while I am slow to suggest Zuckerberg is being dishonest in his post (I don’t know much about him so it isn’t fair to suggest that), the fact that the terms of use remain as they are should temper the message in his post.

Thanks for the link to my post.

I also wonder if issue will loose attention in a day or two when something new comes along. Or will the people up in arms continue to push back?

My techie/librarian friends are the only ones who have mentioned this, and I think yes some of them might eventually delete their accounts. But I think the majority of people either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the TOS. I do wonder what that says about the digital age and what we’re willing to give up to connect with others online.

As others have said, I’ve stopped my feeds into Facebook and I’m waiting to see what develops in the meantime. Given that Facebook has already begun responding to the backlash I figure it would be a hasty move to delete my account instead of taking part in the ongoing “negotiations” between Facebook and its users.

Anyone interested in taking part in the conversation can join the anti-TOS groups that popped up in the hours following the TOS update.

I might be mad enough to leave if Facebook came out today and said, “yeah, that’s right, we own it all.” But they didn’t. They backtracked. They clarified. The story is still “developing” as they say. I’m not convinced that their intention was ever as broad as Consumerist has characterized it.

Reason to be concerned? Yes. Reason to pay attention to how this develops? Absolutely. Reason to delete my investment (and that’s what my hours of messages, uploads, comments, etc. are–an investment of my time)? No, not yet… I think that would be rash and likely something I’d regret.

I am not leaving Facebook, and luckily I don’t have too many photos on the site… So that just leaves my written comments and updates.

What troubles me is the fact that Facebook doesn’t seem to understand how their words in the TOS are affecting their users.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, says in a blog post that Facebook’s philosophy is that people own their information, and that they will remain in control of their property.

However, when the TOS states that “You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense)…”, I am worried about the double speak.

I sincerely hope that they clear this issue up soon so that we users have a minimum of stress – and so that FB doesn’t lose any more credibility than they have already.