This hasn’t been an easy process, especially since I started my own Facebook group just a few weeks ago (See my March 11th blog post). But I’ve learned a few things about Facebook during the past week that have made me think long and hard about my involvement in it, and I’ve finally decided that I need to withdraw from it altogether, not just reduce my presence.
There are two basic reasons why I’ve decided to leave Facebook:
1) I learned that Facebook shares user demographic information with third-party internet vendors that the user just happened to do business with online, even without the user’s knowledge or permission.
2) Just as important to me is the wording of Facebook’s Terms of Use, and what the Terms allow Facebook to do with the content that is posted on any user’s Facebook page.
Basically, these terms state that Facebook can do just about anything they want with anything that you post on or upload to your Facebook page, including using it for their own financial gain. Not only that, but they can also sublicense your content out to third parties, and I’m sure that means for a fee. So you’re basically giving permission to Facebook to profit however they can by using your content however they want.
I don’t know about you, but that just doesn’t sit right with me.
Believe me, I felt much more comfortable when I was naive and thought that Facebook was just a way to network with my friends. But I’ve learned too much in the past few days which has shown me that Facebook is not being honest with us regarding online privacy, their use of our “demographic information” and the way they interact with third party online vendors.
Put that together with their Terms of Use, and you don’t have a prayer if they want to either share information about you or use something from your Facebook page for their own financial benefit. You literally have no recourse.
The one good aspect that I discovered in the Terms was that if you remove your content from your Facebook page, the all-encompassing rights that Facebook enjoys concerning your content would be void. But even then, they reserve the right to keep a copy of your content, just not the right to use it any longer.
So if I wanted to use Facebook and never post anything, whether pics or video or even random information about myself, they couldn’t use what I don’t post. But then what would be the point of using Facebook? And that still doesn’t take care of my first reason - that Facebook shares your information with third party vendors without your knowledge or permission.
Thus I have decided to say goodbye to Facebook.
P.S. If you’re on Facebook, and you’d like to look into this issue yourself, here are some websites to get you started:
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2006/9/25/facebookPrivacy
http://www.zeldman.com/2007/11/28/facebook-privacy/
http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=282
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/4482/